Hepatoprotective and hepatoregenerative therapeutic effects of polyherbal medicine on rattus norvegicus wistar with liver fibrosis

Background: Chronic injury severely impairs liver regeneration through excess inflammation, scarring, and epithelial abnormalities since injured cells may shift response from proregeneration into profibrosis which leads to cirrhosis and total liver failure. An Indonesian registered polyherbal medicine, Heparmin, has been indicated as “hepatoprotector and helps healing liver disease.” It combines extracts of Curcuma xanthorrhiza, Nigella sativa, Kleinhovia hospita, Arcangelisia flava, and Ophiocephalus striatus. Objective and Methods: In this report, using rats induced with iterative carbon tetrachloride, we examined whether administration of silymarin, L-ornithine-L-aspartate or the polyherbal medicine (at 37.8, 810, and 315 mg/kg BW/d, respectively) modulate the development of liver fibrosis. Results and Conclusion: Compared to other drugs, we showed that the polyherbal medicine was better as it (i) increases antioxidant enzyme activity, (ii) decreases oxidative stress (malondialdehyde) and inflammatory markers (aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase), (iii) improves lipid profiles, (iv) normalizes liver metabolic function (bilirubin direct-indirect-total, alkaline phosphatase, albumin), (v) prevents fibrosis progression (liver histology, Ishak score), and (vi) activates hepatocyte regeneration based on BrdU staining.