title: Therapeutic value of melatonin post-treatment on CCl4-induced fibrotic rat liver.
abstract: Melatonin is known for being beneficial in targeting liver diseases. This study aimed to investigate whether melatonin post-treatment is capable of rat carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced liver fibrosis reduction. Thirty-two male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into 4 groups: normal; fibrosis with CCl4injection (1 mL/kg) twice weekly for 8 weeks; phosphate-buffered saline (PBS); and melatonin (20 mg/kg) for a further 4 weeks on cessation of CCl4. At the beginning of week 13, liver tissue samples were used for hematoxylin-eosin (H&E), periodic acid-Schiff (PAS), Masson's trichrome (MT), and Oil Red O staining, quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis of the matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), MMP-13, transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1), Bcl-2, and Bax genes as well as immunofluorescence (IF) of the first 3, and sera for measurement of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), albumin, and hydroxyproline. Chronic administration of CCl4followed by considerable increase in tissue disruption, macro- and micro-vesicles, collagen, lipid droplets (LDs), AST, ALT, hydroxyproline, TGF-β1, and Bax, and decrease in glycogen depository, albumin, Bcl-2, MMP-9, and MMP-13; however, the pattern was reverse when it comes to melatonin treatment (for all p < 0.05). Our results reveal the beneficial aspects of melatonin in treatment of liver fibrosis probably via inhibition of TGF-β1expression.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Poursina Street, Tehran, Iran, 1417613151.
authors.forename: Keywan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mortezaee
authors.affiliation: a Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Poursina Street, Tehran, Iran, 1417613151.
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sabbaghziarani
authors.affiliation: a Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Poursina Street, Tehran, Iran, 1417613151.
authors.forename: Ameneh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Omidi
authors.affiliation: b Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Ahmad Reza
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Dehpour
authors.affiliation: c Department of Surgery, Ziaian Hospital, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Negar
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Omidi
authors.affiliation: a Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Poursina Street, Tehran, Iran, 1417613151.
authors.forename: Soudabeh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ghasemi
authors.affiliation: a Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Poursina Street, Tehran, Iran, 1417613151.
authors.forename: Parichehr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pasbakhsh
authors.affiliation: a Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Poursina Street, Tehran, Iran, 1417613151.
authors.forename: Iraj
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ragerdi Kashani
keywords: carbon tetrachloride; collagen; collagène; facteur de croissance transformant-β1; fibrose; fibrosis; matrix metalloproteinase; melatonin; mélatonine; métalloprotéase matricielle; post-traitement; post-treatment; transforming growth factor-β1; tétrachlorure de carbone