Effect of 4-hydroxychalcone as preventive and curative treatment in Wistar rats with liver injury

The increasing prevalence and complications related to liver diseases (caused by infection, toxic agents, or metabolic syndrome), together with insufficient existence of treatments, make evident the need for better therapeutic alternatives. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the effect of 4-hydroxychalcone (4-HC) as preventive and curative treatment in acute and chronic liver injury, respectively. Liver damage was induced with carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄) in Wistar rats. Rats were divided into two groups: (1) acute liver injury and (2) chronic liver injury. In turn, each group was divided into four subgroups: (i) control (water); (ii) dimethyl sulfoxide 10%; (iii) CCl₄; and (iv) 4-HC. The pre-treatment with 4-HC decreased transaminases, IL-6 serum levels, and hepatic malondialdehyde, increased IL-10 serum levels and hepatic glutathione, and decreased liver damage (necrosis, steatosis, and inflammatory infiltrate). In contrast, treatment with 4-HC after the induction of chronic liver injury decreased IL-6 serum levels and liver damage (steatosis, inflammatory infiltrate, ballooning cells, steatofibrosis, and fibrosis degree). Thus, the 4-HC treatment is proposed as a preventive treatment against acute liver injury; moreover, these results suggested the potential of 4-HC as a curative treatment against chronic liver injury, but other scheme treatments must be evaluated in future.