Effects of melatonin on carbon tetrachloride-induced changes in rat serum

Abstract

Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) is a volatile organic chemical, which causes tissue damage, especially to the liver and kidney. In experimental animals it has been shown to be carcinogenic. This study was designed to evaluate the effects of exogenous melatonin administration on the CCl4-induced changes of some biochemical parameters in rat blood. Twenty-four male Wistar rats were randomly divided into three equal groups: Control, CCl4 and CCl4 plus melatonin (CCl4+MEL). Rats in CCl4 group were injected subcutaneously with CCl4 0.5 ml/kg in olive oil while rats in CCl4+MEL group were injected with CCl4 (0.5 ml/kg) plus melatonin (25 mg/kg in 10% ethanol) every other day for one month. Control rats were treated with olive oil. Serum urea, creatinine, total protein, albumin, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), total and conjugated bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), gamma-glutamyl transferase (gamma-GT), total iron, and magnesium levels were determined. Serum AST, ALT, total and conjugated bilirubin, ALP, gamma-GT, and total iron levels were significantly higher in CCl4-treated rats than in the controls, while urea, total protein, and albumin levels were significantly lower. Melatonin treatment did not cause a significantly change in serum urea, total protein, and albumin levels. However, the elevations in AST, ALT, total and conjugated bilirubin, ALP, gamma-GT, and total iron levels induced by CCl4 injections were significantly reduced by melatonin. On the other hand, melatonin administration significantly decreased serum magnesium levels. These results indicate that melatonin could be a protective agent against the CCl4 toxicity in rats, most likely through its antioxidant and free radical scavenger effects.

Carbon tetrachloride-induced lipid peroxidation and hyperglycemia in rat

“…Posttreatment of LPME with CCl 4 resulted in the recovery of antioxidant enzymes activities and depleted TBARS contents, thus proving a best antioxidant plant . Similar observations were also observed by cotreatment of caffeic acid phenyl ester (Ogeturk et al, 2004) and Digera muricata (Khan et al, 2009) against CCl 4 treatment. It has been reported that most reactive CCl 3 Á radical combines are fatty acids, nucleic acids and are converted into trichloromethyl peroxy radical (CCl 3 OO Á ) in the presence of oxygen, inducing lipid peroxidation that in turn react with DNA to form a mutagenic pirimedopurinone adduct (M1G) of deoxyguanosine and DNA damages/fragmentation.…”

Hepatoprotective effects ofFicus racemosastem bark against carbon tetrachloride-induced hepatic damage in albino rats

“…The decrease in serum protein content might be ascribed to liver damage caused by CCl 4 as reports indicate that liver damage causes decreased amino acid uptake or hepatic protein synthesis (El-Shenawy & Abdel-Nabi, 2006). As reported in other studies (Ogeturk et al, 2004) CCl 4 administration decreased serum urea levels considerably in comparison with control rats which marginally increased towards normalization in groups pretreated with F. racemosa extracts. However, some investigators have reported an increase in serum urea concentrations in CCl 4 -treated rats and attributed these changes in urea levels to the reduction in the glomerular filtration rate as a result of CCl 4 intoxication, since the serum concentration of these two parameters depends largely on the glomerular filtration (Moawad, 2007).…”

“…The hepatotoxic effects of CCl 4 are largely due to its active metabolite, trichloromethyl radical (Johnston & Kroening, 1998;Srivastava et al, 1990). It is well established that CCl 4 administration causes a significant decrease in serum urea, total protein and albumin levels (Ogeturk et al, 2004) and in the present investigation a significant decrease in the levels of total protein, albumin and albumin/globulin ratio was observed. However, pretreatment with the extracts of F. racemosa significantly restored the serum protein levels nearer to control levels.…”

Eclipta alba ameliorates carbon tetrachloride-induced structural and functional changes in liver of mice

“…The LDH and γ-GT activities were significantly elevated in serum of CCl 4 treated group of mice. The CCl 4 caused significant increases in LDH (Raja et al, 2007) as well as γ-GT (Ogeturk et al, 2004) activities have been reported.…”