Acute toxicity and hepatoprotective effect of Arum maculatum on rat liver cirrhosis induced with thioacetamide

Arum maculatum is a medicinal plant that has been employed in traditional medicine for treating liver diseases. The objective of the current study was to evaluate the hepatoprotective impacts of ethanolic extract of the A. maculatum leaves on cirrhosis induced by thioacetamide (TAA) in Sprague--Dawley rats. The rats were treated for two months with thioacetamide (TAA) administered intraperitoneally thrice weekly. Histopathological examination revealed severe liver damage in the thioacetamide control group, while the silymarin treatments (p < 0.05). Furthermore, A. maculatum treatment led to the normalization of pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-α and IL-6, and increased expression of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 (p < 0.05). Thus, A. maculatum leaves might have a hepatoprotective role in rat liver cirrhosis induced by TAA, along with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.