Antioxidants vitamin E and C attenuate hepatic fibrosis in biliary-obstructed rats

Table 1 Liver biochemical tests and relative liver and spleen weights of rats at the end of 4^th wk of bile duct obstruction (mean ± SE)

parameter	Vit C	Vit E	Vit EC	Sham	Control
AST (IU/L)	548 ± 82	446 ± 75b	505 ± 58a	223 ± 26	473 ± 64a
ALT (IU/L)	156 ± 34	148 ± 16	156 ± 23	98 ± 9	165 ± 29
ALP (IU/L)	446 ± 95	403 ± 41	396 ± 27	296 ± 35	477 ± 59
GGT (IU/L)	64 ± 13	86 ± 5	74 ± 8	64 ± 4	101 ± 17
Total bilirubin (mg/dL)	5.9 ± 1.2d	7.2 ± 0.9d	7.1 ± 1.3d	0.5 ± 0.2	8.4 ± 1.4d
Conjugated bilirubin (mg/dL)	3.9 ± 0.6d	3.7 ± 1.0d	3.5 ± 0.6d	0.2 ± 0.1	4.2 ± 0.7d
Albumin (g/dL)	3.2 ± 0.1b	3.0 ± 0.1a	3.3 ± 0.2	3.8 ± 0.0	2.9 ± 0.1d
Relative liver weight (%)	5.9 ± 0.4a	5.6 ± 0.6a	5.9 ± 0.5b	3.4 ± 0.6	5.9 ± 0.1d
Relative spleen weight (%)	0.40 ± 0.07	0.39 ± 0.08	0.42 ± 0.08	0.34 ± 0.04	0.44 ± 0.05

AST: Aspartate aminotransferase; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; ALP: Alkaline phosphatase; GGT: Gamma-glutamyl transferase; T. bilirubin: Total bilirubin; C. Bilirubin: Conjugated bilirubin.

^aP < 0.05 ,

^bP < 0.01,

^dP < 0.001 vs sham.

Table 2 Serum hyaluronate levels, liver collagen content by biochemical method and collagen surface density by image analysis of groups at the end of 4^th wk of study (mean ± SE)

parameter	Vit C	Vit E	Vit EC	Sham	Control
Liver collagen content microgram collagen/mg protein	32.7 ± 1.2bd	33.8 ± 2.9bd	36.7 ± 0.5ad	23.8 ± 1.3d	48.3 ± 0.6a
Collagen surface density (%)	7.0 ± 1.1c	6.2 ± 1.7c	12.3 ± 2.0c	2.6 ± 0.7c	17.4 ± 5.6
Hyaluronate (ng/mL)	63 ± 25d	87 ± 28d	47 ± 25d	56 ± 16d	783 ± 111

^aP < 0.001 ,

^bP < 0.01 vs sham;

^cP < 0.05 ,

^dP < 0.001 vs control.

Table 3 Histologic fibrosis staging and grading of necroinflammatory activity scores according to Scheuer system at the end of the study (mean ± SE)

parameter	Vit C	Vit E	Vit EC	Sham	Control
Stage	3.2 ± 0.4b	2.5 ± 0.5b	2.4 ± 0.8ab	0.5 ± 0.5	3.1 ± 0.7b
Grade	1.5 ± 0.5d	1.5 ± 0.5d	1.4 ± 0.5d	0.2 ± 0.4	1.9 ± 0.7f

^aP < 0.05 vs control;

^bP < 0.001,

^dP < 0.01,

^fP < 0.001 vs sham.

Table 4 Correlation of serum hyaluronate with histologic fibrosis staging, collagen surface density and biochemical collagen content

		Fibrosis stage	Collagen density	Collagen content
Serum	r	+ 0.38	+ 0.56	+ 0.71
Hyaluronate	P <	0.025	0.005	0.0001