Cholestasis is a liver disease that, if untreated and not prevented, will cause hepatic fibrosis andcirrhosis, and eventually death. As a result of bile duct ligation (BDL), toxic bile acidsaccumulate in liver. Accumulation of these toxins and subsequent events, such as
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Cholestasis is a liver disease that, if untreated and not prevented, will cause hepatic fibrosis andcirrhosis, and eventually death. As a result of bile duct ligation (BDL), toxic bile acidsaccumulate in liver. Accumulation of these toxins and subsequent events, such as oxidativestress and inflammatory response leads to cell death and hepatic fibrosis. The liver is the mainorgan for folate storage and metabolism and folate deficiency is a common occurrence in manyliver diseases. The present study investigated the protective effect of folic acid in experimentalhepatic fibrosis. 81 male Wistar rats were classified into the nine groups؛ Control, Shamoperatedcontrol, Folic acid, Bile duct-ligated (BDL) control, and BDL+ folic acid groups. Folicacid treated groups were given oral folic acid (1, 5 and 10 mg/kg b.w) for 28 days. The severityof hepatic injury was determined by measures biochemical indicators like’s activities of AST,ALT, ALP, concentrations of bilirubin and albumin in the serum and activities of superoxidedismutase in the hepatic samples. To assess histopathological features of cholestasis (bile ducthyperplasia, fibrosis, necrosis and inflammatory cell infiltration), Masson’s trichrome stainingwas performed. In BDL rats treated with folic acid, hepatic fibrosis was significantlyameliorated and the serum and hepatic biochemical variation induced by BDL were moderated.This study suggests that folic acid has a protective effect in liver. Folic acid reduced oxidativestress and inflammatory response and thus prevented liver fibrotic changes.
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