Protective effect of apocynin in an established alcoholic steatohepatitis rat model

Apocynin is a widely used antioxidant in both basic and clinical research. The current study aimed to investigate the protective effect of apocynin in an established alcoholic steatohepatitis rat model. Healthy SD rats were gastrically fed with ethanol (4.0 g/kg) for 8 weeks to induce alcoholic steatohepatitis. After 8 weeks, rats were fed with ethanol for another 2 weeks with or without a daily intraperitoneal injection of 25 mg/kg apocynin. After sacrificing, serum and liver samples were subjected to hepatic injury measurements. After 8-week ethanol induction, rats exhibited typical alcoholic steatohepatitis features including reduced body weight, hepatic histological changes, elevated serum alanine transaminase (ALT) level, increased levels of oxidative stress and inflammatory markers, NADPH oxidases, and renin-angiotensin system (RAS) marker. Co-treatment of apocynin alleviated the hepatic injury and biochemical parameters induced by alcoholic steatohepatitis. In conclusion, addition of apocynin significantly attenuates hepatic oxidative stress and inflammation induced by alcoholic steatohepatitis. This effect is partly through the inhibition of the RAS system.