Dietary honey and ginseng protect against carbon tetrachloride-induced hepatonephrotoxicity in rats

Liver diseases are amongst the most serious health problems in the world today and hepatocellular carcinoma is one of the world's deadliest cancers. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the protective effect of sider honey and/or Korean ginseng extract (KGE) against carbon tetrachloride (CCl(4))-induced hepato-nephrotoxicity in rat. Eighty male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were allocated into different groups and over a 4-week period, they orally received honey and/or KGE or were treated either with CCl(4) alone (100 mg/kg b.w) or with CCl(4) after a pretreatment period with honey, KGE or a combination of both. Clinical, clinico-pathological and histopathological evaluations were done and CCl(4)-treated groups were compared with rats receiving no treatment and with rats given honey, KGE or a combination of these substances. The results indicated that oral administration of CCl(4) induced severe hepatic and kidney injury associated with oxidative stress. The combined treatment with CCl(4) plus honey and/or KGE resulted in a significant improvement in all evaluated parameters. This improvement was prominent in the group receiving CCl(4) after combined pretreatment with honey and KGE. Animals receiving honey and/or KGE (without CCl(4)-treatment) were comparable to the control untreated group. It could be concluded that honey and KGE protect SD rats against the severe CCl(4)-induced hepatic and renal toxic effects. Our results suggest that the protective activity of honey and KGE may have been related to their antioxidant properties.