Hepato-Protective Effects of Blue-Green Alga S. platensis on Diclofenac-Induced Liver Injury in Rats

Introduction: This research aimed at evaluating the hepato-protective effect of the alga Spirulina platensis against diclofenac-induced liver injury in rats. The study’s ultimate aim was to understand whether Spirulina could be developed as a functional food for therapy and protective therapeutic use. Methods: Hepatic injury was induced by administering diclofenac sodium (50mg/kg i.p.) for 5 days. S. platensis dose (300mg/kg) was administered to rats (180-220 g) orally for 5 days. On day 3 and day 4 after Spirulina dosage, diclofenac was administered. The reference drug silymarin was used in the study. Antioxidant activities like superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, catalase (CAT) activity, reduced glutathione (GSH) and lipid peroxidation (LPO), glutamate-pyruvate transaminase (GPT), glutamate-oxaloacetate transaminase (GOT), alkaline phosphatase (AlP) activities, and levels of total protein, total bilirubin, direct bilirubin, and lipid profiles including high density lipoproteins (HDL), low density lipoproteins (LDL), very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL), triglycerides and total cholesterol in serum were determined and compared with animals treated with diclofenac alone. Results: Animals receiving S. platensis prior to the administration of diclofenac significantly counteracted the diclofenac-induced changes, decreasing GPT, GOT, and AlP activities, total bilirubin, LDL, and total cholesterol in serum, and lipid peroxidation in liver tissue. Spirulina-treated rats revealed similar results to those treated with silymarin. Conclusion: These results, combined with hepatic histopathological observations, demonstrated that S. platensis has potential hepato-protective effect against diclofenac-induced hepatic injury in rats. More studies should be conducted to confirm the hepato-protective properties of S. platensis, and its development as a potential functional