Anti-fibrotic effect of bovine colostrum in carbon tetrachloride-induced hepatic fibrosis

Purpose To investigate the preventive effect of colostrum on hepatic fibrosis induced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) in mice. Methods Seven-week-old male Balb/C mice were treated with CCl4 with or without a diet of bovine colostrum (BC) for 2 weeks. Hepatic fibrosis was determined using Sirius red staining, α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) immunohistochemistry, immunoblot analysis, and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for profibrogenic and proinflammatory genes. Hepatocellular injury was assessed through the measurement of serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels. Results Compared to the CCl4 group, the BC4 group had a 55% reduction in fibrosis as demonstrated by Sirius red staining. The BC+CCl4 group also had a significant reduction in α-SMA expression according to immunohistochemistry and immunoblot. On quantitative PCR, the BC+CCl4 group showed significant 8.42-, 21.11-, 0.57-, and 2.90-fold reductions in the expression of Acta2, Col1α1, Tgfβ1, and Tnf-α, respectively, compared to the CCl4 group. The serum ALT level was significantly reduced in the BC+CCl4 group compared to the CCl4 group. Conclusion The present study demonstrated that BC ameliorated CCl4-induced hepatic fibrosis by inhibiting fibrogenesis-related gene expression and also decreased CCl4-induced hepatocyte injury. Therefore, BC might be therapeutically efficacious in preventing hepatic fibrosis in various liver diseases.

Abstract licence: CC BY-NC

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