Effect of Some Natural Products on Experimental Hepatic Fibrosis in Rats

Hepatic fibrosis, liver scarring, is considered as a wound-healing response to chronic insult such as viral/parasitic infections, alcohol abuse, metabolic disorders, drug effects, chronic bile duct obstruction and autoimmune diseases. Regardless of the cause, hepatic fibrosis is characterized by excessive deposition of ECM with major alteration in both the quantity and composition.Fibrosis may continue to progress into a severe condition, cirrhosis, which is characterized by the conversion of normal liver architecture into structurally abnormal nodules, dissection of the hepatic lobule by fibrotic septa, encapsulating islets of hepatic cells and associates portal hypertension and hepatocellular dysfunction and liver cancer.Indeed currently, no specific therapy for fibrosis is available but there are several approaches aiming to reduce the excessive scar formation via curing the primary disease to prevent injury, reducing inflammation or increase the degradation of scar matrix. Therapeutic attempts with antifibrotic drugs are still at experimental stages. The problems associated with antifibrotics are toxicity due to chronic administration and reduced therapeutic effects when tested in clinical studies. Developing antifibrotics from natural products used in traditional medicine may reduce the risk of toxicity and maintain the therapeutic effectiveness when the drug is used clinically.This study aimed mainly to:1. Display the preliminary phytochemical screening of purslane hydro-ethanolic extract and evaluate its in-vitro antioxidant activity.2. Shed light on characteristic features of liver fibrosis.3. Elucidate the different biochemical and histopathological abnormalities associated with BDL in rats..