protection of rats from thioacetamide-induced hepatic fibrosis by the extracts of a traditional uighur medicine cichorium glandulosum

objective(s):to clarify the protective effects of cichorium glandulosum (cg) extracts on thioacetamide (taa)-induced rat hepatic fibrosis. materials and methods: the dry roots of cg were smashed and percolated with 95% ethanol, and the residual was prepared into petroleum ether extract (cg-v), ethyl acetate extract (cg-vi) and n-butyl alcohol extract (cg-vii). thirty-six wistar rats were randomly divided into a normal group, a model group, a cg-v group (15 mg/kg), a cg-vi group (3 mg/kg), a cg-vii group (6 mg/kg) and a positive drug group (silibinin capsule, 8 mg/kg). organ indices and serum levels of glutamic-oxaloacetic and glutamic-pyruvic transaminases of intragastrically administered rats were obtained. expressions of fn, smad3, igfbprp1 and tgf-β1 genes were detected by western blot and immunohistochemical assays. apoptosis was examined by tunel assay. results: hepatic fibrosis of treatment groups was evidently mitigated. expressions of fn, smad3 and tgf-β1 in administration groups were higher than those in normal group, and moreover were significantly higher in cg-v and cg-vii groups than those of model group. apoptotic index of model group was significantly higher than that of normal group, but indices of cg-v and cg-vii groups were significantly lower than that of model group. significantly more fn, smad3 and igfbprp1 were expressed in treatment groups than those in normal group. conclusion: cg extracts may function by altering tgf-β/smads signal transduction pathway.