Ameliorative Potential of Silymarin On Serum Liver Function Indices On Ccl4-Induced Hepatotoxicity in Albino Wistar Rat Model

This study investigated the impact of silymarin on serum liver function markers in albino Wistar rats with liver damage induced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4). Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a common type of liver disease, involves damage to hepatocytes the primary liver cells often driven by genetic and epigenetic alterations that cause abnormal cell proliferation and evasion of programmed cell death. Fifteen albino Wistar rats weighing between 60 and 130g were divided into three groups of five rats each: the first group received distilled water and served as the normal control; the second was exposed to CCl4 to induce HCC but remained untreated as a positive control; the third group was induced with HCC using CCl4 and treated with silymarin. The treatment spanned 31 days, after which the rats were euthanized 12 hours following the last dose, and blood samples were collected via cardiac puncture. Key liver function indicators measured from the serum included; Alanine Transaminase (ALT), Aspartate Transaminase (AST), Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP), Total Bilirubin, and Conjugated Bilirubin. The results showed that silymarin treatment significantly (p<0.05) lowered the levels of the serum liver markers compared with the positive control group, whose liver function test (LFT) values were significantly (p<0.05) elevated relative to the animals in the normal control group. These findings are consistent with previous studies on various bioactive phytochemical components also found in silymarin, which demonstrate antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, and hepatocyte-protective effects. Conclusively, silymarin effectively restored liver function parameters towards normal levels, indicating its capability to protect against hepatocellular insults and support liver biochemical integrity restoration. Thus, silymarin shows promise as a natural agent for mitigating liver injury caused by toxic substances, reaffirming it as hepatoprotective agent as well as its therapeutic potential in liver disease management.