Does red ginseng ameliorate liver damage caused by obstructive jaundice?: an experimental study

Abstract

Aim: This experimental study aimed to evaluate the hepatoprotective effect on obstructive jaundice (OJ) of oral Red Ginseng(RG) extract, which is known to have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.Material and Method: The rats were randomly separated into 3 groups of 10 rats: The sham group, the control group, and thetreatment group. In Group 1 (sham), the common bile duct (CBD) was identified but no ligation or transection was performed.In Group 2 (control), the CBD was identified and ligation and transection were performed, but no treatment was given. InGroup 3 (RG group), CBD ligation and transection were performed, then RG extract was administered via an orogastric tube ata dose of 100 mg/ kg/day for 10 days. After 10 days, blood samples were taken for biochemical analysis, and liver tissue samplesfor biochemical and histopathological analysis.Results: Significantly higher serum albumin levels and lower serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartateaminotransferase (AST) levels were determined in the RG group than in the control group (p=0.028, p=0.001 and p=0.034,respectively). In the oxidative stress parameters, malondialdehyde (MDA) levels and catalase (CAT) levels were significantlydifferent between the RG group and control group (p≤0.001 for each). Total sulfhydryl (T-SH) was not at a statistically significantlevel, although it was high and approached the value of the sham group (p=0.076). In the histopathological evaluation, the RGgroup had statistically significantly lower scores in all parameters compared to the control group (p