Pharmacological and antioxidant actions of garlic and.or onion in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in rats

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (nafld) includes a broad spectrum of fat-induced liver injury,ranging from mild steatosis to cirrhosis and liver failure. this study investigates the hepatoprotective properties of garlic and onion in nafld rat model. ninety male sprague-dawley rats were randomly divided into 9 groups; normal (i),nafld induced with high fat diet (hfd; ii),nafld switched to regular diet (rd; iii),nafld-hfd or nafld-rd treated with garlic (iv,v),onion (vi,vii) or the combined garlic+onion (viii,ix) respectively. a nafld rat model was established by feeding the animals with a high-fat diet for 12 wk. these animals were then treated with garlic or/and onion or vehicle for 8 wk (weeks 13-20) and then killed to obtain serum samples and liver tissues. liver histology,lipids,parameters of oxidative stress,tnf-α and tgf-β were measured. the liver in nafld-hfd showed typical steatosis,accompanied with mild to moderate lobular inflammatory cell infiltration. serum levels of alt,ast,alp,leptin,cholesterol,triglycerides,tnf-α,tgf-β and hepatic mda' were significantly increased (p < 0.05) compared with normal group. this was accompanied with reduction of hepatic gsh,gr,gpx,gst,sod and serum adiponectin. these changes were to a less degree in nafld-rd group. combined administration of garlic+onion produced a better and significant decrease in liver steatosis,serum liver enzymes,oxidative markers and lipid peroxidation versus each one alone. in the same time,nafld-induced inflammation was also mitigated via reduction of tnf-α and tgf-β. in addition,these results were better in the group ix versus group viii.