Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Sep 21, 2017; 23(35): 6412-6419
Published online Sep 21, 2017. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i35.6412
Effects of aspirin and enoxaparin in a rat model of liver fibrosis
Chen-Jie Li, Zhi-Hui Yang, Xiao-Liu Shi, De-Liang Liu
Chen-Jie Li, Xiao-Liu Shi, De-Liang Liu, Department of Gastroenterology, Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha 410011, Hunan Province, China
Zhi-Hui Yang, Department of Medicine, Hospital of National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073, Hunan Province, China
Author contributions: All listed authors participated me-aningfully in the study and have seen and approved the final manuscript; Li CJ and Shi XL designed the study; Li CJ and Yang ZH performed the animal experiments; Li CJ and Liu DL analyzed the data; Li CJ, Yang ZH, Shi XL and Liu DL wrote and revised the paper.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: All procedures involving animals were reviewed and approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the East China Normal University.
Conflict-of-interest statement: To the best of our knowledge, no conflict of interest exists.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Chen-Jie Li, MD, PhD, Department of Gastroenterology, the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha 410011, Hunan Province, China. chenjielimao@126.com
Telephone: +86-18900725369
Received: February 22, 2017
Peer-review started: February 24, 2017
First decision: June 5, 2017
Revised: June 21, 2017
Accepted: August 15, 2017
Article in press: August 15, 2017
Published online: September 21, 2017
Abstract
AIM

To examine the effects of aspirin and enoxaparin on liver function, coagulation index and histopathology in a rat model of liver fibrosis.

METHODS

Forty-five male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into the control group (n = 5) and model group (n = 40). Thioacetamide (TAA) was used to induce liver fibrosis in the model group. TAA-induced fibrotic rats received TAA continuously (n = 9), TAA + low-dose aspirin (n = 9), TAA + high-dose aspirin (n = 9) or TAA + enoxaparin (n = 9) for 4 wk. All rats were euthanized after 4 wk, and both hematoxylin-eosin and Masson staining were performed to observe pathological changes in liver tissue.

RESULTS

Liver fibrosis was assessed according to the METAVIR score. Compared with untreated cirrhotic controls, a significant improvement in fibrosis grade was observed in the low-dose aspirin, high-dose aspirin and enoxaparin treated groups, especially in the high-dose aspirin treated group. Alanine aminotransferase and total bilirubin were higher, albumin was lower and both prothrombin time and international normalized ratio were prolonged in the four treatment groups compared to controls. No significant differences among the four groups were observed.

CONCLUSION

Aspirin and enoxaparin can alleviate liver fibrosis in this rat model.

Keywords: Aspirin, Enoxaparin, Thioacetamide, Liver fibrosis, Rat

Core tip: Several lines of evidence show that intra-hepatic thrombosis is associated with liver fibrosis. Based on these observations, we hypothesized that routine use of antithrombotic drugs may prevent liver fibrosis. In our study, we successfully established a rat model of liver fibrosis after 8 wk and successfully established a rat model of liver cirrhosis after 12 wk through the thioacetamide-induced method. Our study clearly shows that aspirin and enoxaparin can reduce liver fibrosis in rats. However, reporting the results in humans is more complicated because other aspects, such as renal function, need to be considered.