Aloe vera gel protects liver from oxidative stress-induced damage in experimental rat model

Abstract Aloeveraisasemi-tropicalplantofLiliaceaefamilywhichhasa wide range of applications in traditional medicine. In thepresent study, we sought to investigate the heptaoprotectivepotentialof Aloeveragelasadietsupplement.Toachievethisgoal,wehavedesigned invitroandinvivo experimentalmod-els of chemical-induced liver damage using male Sprague –Dawley rat. In the in vitro model,itseffectwasevaluatedonFenton’sreaction-inducedliverlipidperoxidation.Co-incuba-tionwithgelsignificantlyreducedthegenerationofliverlipidperoxide(LPO).Next, to seethesimilareffect in vivo,gelwasorally administered to rats once daily for 21 successive days.Following 1 hour of the last administration of gel, rats weretreated with intra-peritoneal injection of CCl 4 .Dietarygelshowed significant hepatoprotection against CCl 4 -induceddamage as evident by restoration of liver LPO, serum transa-minases, alkaline phosphatase, and total bilirubin towardsnearnormal.Thebeneficialeffectswerepronouncedwiththedosesused(400and800mg/kgbodyweight).Besides,wedidnotobserveanysignificantdrop inserumalbumin,globulinaswell as total protein levels of gel-administered rats.Histopathology of the liver tissue further supported the bio-chemical findings confirming thehepatoprotectivepotentialofdietarygel.Keywords: Aloe vera gel, oxidative stress, liver, Fenton’sreagent, carbon tetrachloride