Ameliorative effect of soybean lecithin on the liver enzymes of rats supplemented with high cholesterol

Abstract

The present experiment was investigated to study the ameliorative role of soybean lecithin specially phosphatidylcholin on liver enzymes (ALT) and (AST) in intact and hypercholesterolemic infected rats.Thirty two adult male rats have been used in this study, were randomly selected and equally divided in to four groups as follows C, T1 , T2, T3.They were treated orally (daily) for 42 days as follows; C:control group, were given distilled water by gavage needle, T1: rats of this group were given soybean lecithin only (430mgkgday) orally; T2:rats of this groups were given only cholesterol (10gmday) orally; T3: rats of this groups were given soybean lecithin (430mgkgday) orally, and supplemented with high cholesterol (10gmday) orally within diet.The daily supplementation of soybean lecithin induces a significant decrease (p > 0.05) in liver enzymes (ALT & AST) as compared with (T2) group which has seen remarkable rise in these enzymes respectively. Moreover, the histopathological examination showed results referred that cholesterol effects significantly on the liver cells by causing sever fatty changes characterized by variable size round clear spaces in the hepatocytes. Also, there is a mononuclear cells aggregation in liver parenchyma and congested blood vessels without any fatty vacuoles in (T2)..In conclusion, the results from this experiment confirm that soybean lecithin supplementation to rats has an important protective role on hepatic portal system in hypercholesterolemic infected rats.This supplementation can overcome the deleterious effect of hypercholesterolemia on liver basically.