Abstracts Poster Abstracts - Dr Falk

120Functional and morphological injury of rat liver tissue by carbontetrachloride. Hepatoprotective effect of melatonin1 Zavodnik I.B., 1 Lapshina E.A., 1 Domanski A.V., and 2 Reiter R.J.1 Institute of Biochemistry, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, 230017 Grodno,Belarus2 Department of Cellular and Structural Biology, University of Texas Health ScienceCenter, San Antonio, TX, USAIntroduction: The potential protective effects of melatonin on carbon tetrachloride(CCl 4 )-induced acute liver injury in rats were investigated in this work.Methods: CCl 4 was intragastrically administered to male Wistar rats (4 g/kg bodyweight) at 20 h before the animals were decapitated. Melatonin (15 mg/kg body weight)was intraperitoneally administered 30 min before and at 2 and 4 h after CCl 4 injection.Results: Rats injected with CCl 4 alone showed significant lipid and hydropic dystrophyof the liver, massive necrosis of hepatocytes, marked increases in free and conjugatedbilirubin levels, elevation of hepatic enzymes (alanine aminotransferase and aspartateaminotransferase) in plasma, as well as NO accumulation in liver and in blood.Melatonin administered at a pharmacological dose diminished the toxic effects of CCl 4 .Its administration ameliorated some of the structural damage and functional disordersin rat liver during acute intoxication with CCl 4 and clearly exerted hepatoprotectiveeffects. Melatonin administration also reduced CCl 4 -induced NO generation.Discussion/Conclusion: These results of histological and biochemical measurementssuggest that the effect of melatonin on CCl 4 -induced acute liver injury may be due bothto its radical scavenging properties and indirect effects as a regulator of antioxidantsystems.