Therapeutic Effects of Quercetin on ANIT-induced rat Cholestatic Hepatitis

Thirty-six male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 6 groups (n=6 per group): Group I orally received blank vehicle for 7 days and ip injection of olive oil (2 mL/kg body weight) on day 5; Group II orally received blank vehicle for 7 days; Group III was treated orally with UCDA (50 mg/kg bodyweight) for 7 days; Group IV was treated orally with high-dose quercetin (QueH; 200 mg/kg bodyweight) for 7 days; Group V was treated orally with medium-dose quercetin (QueM; 100 mg/kg bodyweight) for 7 days; and Group VI was treated orally with low-dose quercetin (QueL, 50 mg/kg bodyweight) for 7 days. The rats in Groups II–VII, were administrated ANIT-olive oil solution (100 mg/kg, ip, 2 mL/kg body weight) 2 h after administration of UCDA or quercetin on day 5. The model and control groups were treated orally with a blank solvent daily [21,22].

Forty-eight hours after the last administration of ANIT, the animals were euthanized by anesthesia via ip injection (100 mg/kg pentobarbital). Blood was collected from the abdominal aorta for biochemical evaluation. The liver was immediately removed and weighed. A large portion of the liver was snap-frozen in liquid nitrogen, and the remaining tissue was fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde, processed, and embedded in paraffin for histological examination after hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining. Hepatic injury was evaluated based on the levels of ALT, AST, DBIL, TBIL, TBA, and γ-GGT using a Chemray 240 Automatic Biochemical Analyzer (Rayto Life and Analytical Sciences Co., Ltd., Shenzhen, China). The levels of MDA, GSH-Px, and SOD were evaluated using commercial kits according to the manufacturer’s instructions, and histological assessment and scoring was conducted according to standardized criteria by a pathologist blinded to the study. For real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis, liver tissue was quickly frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at −80°C until analysis.