Amino Acid Carnosine and Melatonin Protect the Liver in Animal Study

By VRP Staff

The antioxidants carnosine and melatonin protect the liver against a condition known as ischemia, a new animal study has found.

Liver (Hepatic) ischemia is a condition where not enough blood or oxygen gets to the liver, causing injury to liver cells. Heart failure, abnormal heart rhythm, dehydration, severe bleeding and infection can all lead to hepatic ischemia.

To determine the effect of carnosine and melatonin on this condition, researchers divided rodents into five groups. One group of rats served as a control. In the remaining four groups, researchers induced ischemia in the rodents and either left the animals untreated, gave them only melatonin, only carnosine, or melatonin plus carnosine.

In the untreated group, researchers observed a number of adverse symptoms related to the ischemia. These symptoms were less pronounced in the groups given carnosine and melatonin. Markers of liver damage (alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase and myeloperoxidase levels) were increased in the ischemia group, but they were lowered in the groups given melatonin and carnosine. Levels of the important antioxidant glutathione were low in the ischemia group, while it tended to increase in the ischemia plus carnosine groups and ischemia plus carnosine plus melatonin groups. There was an increase in cell death in the untreated animals exposed to ischemia, while this number was lowered in the groups given the antioxidants. Carnosine was more effective than melatonin in reversing structural and biochemical damage in the liver that resulted from ischemia. However, the administration of melatonin and carnosine together yielded better outcomes compared to the sole administration of each agent.

Reference:

Baykara B, Tekmen I, Pekcetin C, Ulukus C, Tuncel P, Sagol O, Ormen M, Ozogul C. The protective effects of carnosine and melatonin in ischemia-reperfusion injury in the rat liver. Acta Histochem. 2008 Jun 11. Published on-line ahead of print.