Impact of ghrelin and its two forms upon carbon tetrachloride induced acute liver injury

Ghrelin is a peptide of 28 amino acids that defined as acylated and des-acylated according to its n-octanoyl modification at serine 3. It has been proposed that ghrelin has antiinflammatory and antioxidant properties in addition to its physiologic activity. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of ghrelin upon carbontetrachloride (CCl4) induced acute liver injury.Sixty four male Sprague-Dawley rats were named according to administrations as control (any administiration was applied), acylated ghrelin, des-acylated ghrelin, acylated ghrelin/des-acylated ghrelin (total ghrelin), CCl4, CCl4/acylated ghrelin, CCl4/des-acylated ghrelin, CCl4/total ghrelin. Groups were allocated as treatment control (first 4 groups) and treatment groups (other 4 groups). Acylated ghrelin (10 ng/kg) and des-acylated ghrelin (10 ng/kg) was administered intraperitoneally seperately or together at the first and third day of the study. CCl4 (0.15 ml/100g diluted with olive oil in proportion as 1/1) was administered intraperitoneally at the second day of the study. The study was terminated 24 hours after last administration. AST, ALT, Albumin, TNF-? and tissue MDA were studied from the blood samples and liver tissue respectively. Histopathology of the liver including inflammation, necrosis, steatosis, fibrosis was evaluated.AST, ALT, TNF-? and liver tissue MDA levels were statistically elevated when we compared treatment groups with treatment control groups. On the other hand, AST, ALT, TNF-? and liver tissue MDA levels were statistically reduced when we compared with CCl4 group to CCl4/acylated ghrelin and CCl4/total ghrelin. There was any significant difference between CCl4 group and CCl4/des-acylated ghrelin. Necroinflammatory activity of the liver histopathology confirmed the aforementioned findings.Acylated ghrelin and total ghrelin improved histopathologic changes in CCl4 induced acute liver injury not only by reducing oxidative stress but also by alleviating inflammation.Key words: acylated ghrelin, des-acylated ghrelin, liver, inflammation, oxidative stress