Protective Effect of Total Flavones of Buckwheat Flowers on Carbon Tetrachloride-induced Hepatic Impairment

Objective: The protective effect and possible mechanism of total flavones of buckwheat flowers (TFBF) on experimental hepatic impairment in mice were studied. Methods: The hepatic impairment model of mice was induced by injecting carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) subcutaneously (sc) every 4 days for 7 times. Meanwhile, mice in the two treatment groups were given TFBF at dosages of 0.04 g kg-1 d-1 and 0.02 g kg-1 d-1 respectively through intragastric (ig) injection, and mice in the positive control group were treated with methionine (MET) by contrast. Next the day CCl4 was lastly injected, half the mice were killed. The contents of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) in serum and ALT, superoxidase dismutase (SOD), glutathione (GSH), malonaldehyde (MDA), triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC) in liver tissue, the liver indexes (LI), and the hepato-pathologic changes of the mice were examined. The rest mice were given identical treatment for another 2 weeks. Results: TFBF could inhibit the rising of serum ALT, liver MDA, TG, TC, LI, and the lowering of liver SOD and GSH in CCl4-induced hepatic impairment mice. It could obviously ease the hepato-pathologic damages as well. Conclusion: TFBF could effectively protect the hepatic impairment in CCl4-induced mice.