DOES EXCESSIVE CONSUMPTION OF FLAXSEED (LINUM USITATISSIMUM L.) CAUSE A LIVER DAMAGE IN RAT MODELS?

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ObjectiveNatural health products and functional foods arefrequently consumed for the prevention and treatmentof many diseases. Flaxseed is one of the functionalfoods with anticancer, antiviral, antibacterial and antifungalproperties. In addition to its beneficial effects,excessive consumption without considering the appropriatedosage can cause toxic effects. In this study,it was planned to investigate the effects of differentamounts of flaxseed consumption on rat liver.Materials and MethodsRats were randomly divided into four groups with 8rats in each groups; control group and experimentalgroups which given flaxseed for 7 days; 1.4, 2.8 and5.6 g/kg/day, respectively. At the end of the experiment,histological, immunohistochemical and biochemicalanalyzes were performed on tissue and bloodsamples.ResultsSerum AST, ALT and ALP values are significantly higherin 5.6 g/kg of flaxseed compared to control group(p values 0.003, 0.012 and 0.009, respectively). Albuminvalues were significantly lower in experimentalgroups compared to the control group (p 0.05) in all experimental groups compared tocontrol. In histopathological findings, there was significantdifference in three groups compared to controlgroup, especially in 5.6 g/kg of flaxseed group comparedto others. As a result of immunohistochemicalanalyzes, staining intensity of the receptors was highestin 5.6 g/kg of flaxseed group. The highest positivestaining was observed respectively in NOX4, iNOS,TNF-α and IL-6.ConclusionThese results show that excessive consumption offlaxseed can cause oxidative stress and toxicity dueto inflammation in the liver and this study can helpfulother studies about flaxseed toxicity.