Red mold rice against hepatic inflammatory damage in Zn-deficient rats.
Resource
J Tradit Complement Med,2(1),52-60.
Journal
Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine
Pages
52-60
Date Issued
2012-01
Date
2012-01
Author(s)
Lee, BH
Hsu, WH
Pan, TM.
Abstract
The protective effect of red mold rice (RMR) against liver injury in rats fed with a Zn-deficient diet for 12 weeks was investigated in this study. Rats were orally administered RMR (151 mg/kg body weight or 755 mg/kg body weight; 1 �� dose or 5 �� dose, respectively) with or without Zn once a day for 4 consecutive weeks. The severity of liver damage was evaluated by measuring the serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels in Zn-deficient rats. RMR significantly inhibited the elevation of serum ALT levels by Zn-deficient induction. Hepatic antioxidase activity was also significantly increased in the RMR + Zn group (RZ), thereby suppressing the productions of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and proinflammatory cytokines in the liver of Zn-deficient rats. These findings suggested that RMR exerted hepatoprotective effects against Zn deficiency-induced liver inflammation.