POLYENYLPHOSPHATIDYLCHOLINE PREVENTS CARBON TETRACHLORIDE-INDUCED LIPID-PEROXIDATION WHILE IT ATTENUATES LIVER FIBROSIS

Background/Aims: Polyenylphosphatidylcholine protects against alcoholi c cirrhosis in the baboon and carbon tetrachloride-induced cirrhosis i n rats. this study addresses the possible mechanism of the protective effect of polyenylphosphatidylcholine. Methods: For 8 weeks, rats were injected with either carbon tetrachloride in peanut oil or peanut oil alone (control), and pair-fed nutritionally adequate liquid diets wit h equivalent amounts of linoleic acid either as polyenylphosphatidylch oline or as safflower oil. Other rats were injected for 9 weeks with h eterologous albumin and fed the same liquid diets. Lipid peroxidation was measured by F-2-isoprostanes and 4-hydroxynonenal. Results: Carbon tetrachloride-induced lipid peroxidation was strikingly attenuated wi th polyenylphosphatidylcholine supplementation. Levels of hepatic F-2- isoprostanes and 4-hydroxynonenal paralleled liver fibrotic scores and collagen accumulation. Polyenylphosphatidylcholine also attenuated th e fibrosis induced in rats with human albumin, but in this case levels of hepatic 4-hydroxynonenal did not change, nor were they significant ly affected by polyenylphosphatidylcholine. Neither carbon tetrachlori de injection nor polyenylphosphatidylcholine treatment changed the ara chidonic acid content (a major precursor of F-2-isoprostanes and 4-hyd roxynonenal) in liver phospholipids, and hepatic vitamin E was not sig nificantly altered. Conclusions The hepatic protection of polyenylphos phatidylcholine against carbon tetrachloride appears to be due, at lea st in part, to an antioxidant effect, whereas the protection against h eterologous albumin-induced fibrosis suggests that an additional mecha nism, such as stimulation of collagenase activity, may also be respons ible.