Hepatoprotective activity of puerarin against carbon tetrachloride-induced injuries in rats: a randomized controlled trial

The protective effects of puerarin on liver damage were evaluated by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced hepatotoxicity in rats. Male rats were orally treated with puerarin daily, and received CCl4 intraperitoneally twice a week for 4 weeks. Our results showed that puerarin at doses of 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg b.w. significantly reduced the elevated activities of serum alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, and lactate dehydrogenase at least 15%, 17%, 14% and 18%, respectively. In addition, puerarin at different doses significantly decreased (p < 0.05) the level of hepatic thiobarbituric acid reactive substances compared to the CCl4-treated group. Furthermore, the treatment of puerarin was also found to significantly increase the activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase, glutathione-S-transferase, and glutathione content at least 40%, 12%, 25%, 52%, 17% and 44% in the liver of CCl4-treated rats, respectively. Liver histopathology also showed that puerarin reduced the incidence of liver lesions induced by CCl4. The results suggest that puerarin exhibits potent hepatoprotective effects on CCl4-induced liver damages in rats, and that the hepatoprotective effects of puerarin may be due to both the inhibition of lipid peroxidation and to increase of antioxidant enzymes activity.