Reduction of carbon tetrachloride-induced hepatotoxic effects by oral administration of betaine in male Han-Wistar rats: A morphometric histological study

Eighty-five male Han-Wistar rats were arranged into three groups: CCl4-expo sed rats, CCl4 + betaine-exposed rats, and control rats. To see the effect of betaine alone, five rats of the control and of the CCl4 + betaine groups were sacrificed after 7 days, before exposure to CCl4. After that, two of the groups (the CCl4 and CCl4 + betaine groups) were exposed to CCl4 (1 ml/ kg per day subcutaneously [SC] for 4 consecutive days), and one of the grou ps (control group) was given olive oil (1 ml/kg per day SC for 4 consecutiv e days). At the start of the study (day 0), day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4, and 3 days after the last CCl4 and olive oil injections (day 7), samples of fi ve rats per group were sacrificed, and the livers were taken for chemical a nalyses and histological examination. Oral betaine, after the acclimation p eriod of a week, increased the number of mitochondria but not mitochondria size (day 0), compared with the case in control rats. Exposure to CCl4 resu lted in centrilobular hepatic steatosis, and the administration of betaine significantly reduced this. Morphometric analyses also revealed that the ad dition of betaine increased the volume density of rough endoplasmic reticul um (RER) in the perinuclear areas of liver cell cytoplasm (day 7). Addition ally, the administration of betaine prevented the reduction of Golgi comple xes and mitochondrial figures in the cytoplasm observed after the exposures to CCl4. Also, the volume density of mitochondria was smallest in the CCl4 -group, but the difference was not statistically significant. The results i ndicate that oral betaine either improves recovery or reduces the toxic eff ects of CCl4 on cell organelles in liver cells of male Han-Wistar rats.