الفهرس 
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Abstract
Liver fibrosis represents a significant health problem estimated to affect over 100 million people and remains among the most serious sequels of chronic alcohol consumption and infectious diseases such as viral hepatitis and schistosome infection. Liver fibrosis is defined as “the presence of excess collagen due to new fiber formation” and excessive accumulation of extracellular matrix (ECM), also known as scar tissue, in the liver parenchyma. Fibrosis is part of the normal healing response to various kinds of liver injury. Whatever its etiology, the evolution of liver fibrosis is characterized by perpetuation of parenchymal necrosis, alterations in ECM composition, recruitment of immune and/or inflammatory cells to the site of injury and activation of hepatic stellate cells, macrophages and Kupffer cells (liver macrophages). At the molecular level, growth factors, cytokines and chemokines, changes in ECM organization and composition and reactive molecules originating from oxidative stress have been suggested to play a role in pathogenesis. Oxidative stress - related molecules may act as mediators that modulate tissue and cellular events responsible for the progression of liver fibrosis.
Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) is a well known hepatotoxic industrial solvent. It is commonly used for free radical induced liver injury and to study oxidative stress experimentally. Liver is not the only target organ of CCl4 but it also affects several organs of the body.
Propolis was used as a traditional medicine since 300 BC. Researchers stated that the healing activities of propolis were identified by Roman and Greek doctors, early Egyptians used it to preserve corpses from decomposition and to heal wounds. Propolis acts as a hepatoprotective agent, isolated phenolic components from propolis, showing hepatoprotective property.
Therefore, this study was conducted in order to evaluate the effect of CCl4 induced liver fibrosis on the immune organs and the protective role of propolis in the treatment of these negative influences.
In this study, 45 male albino mice were purchased from Theodore Bilharz Institute in Cairo were divided into three groups, 15 mice each. The first was used as a control group and the other two groups were treated by CCl4 to induce liver fibrosis by intra peritoneal (i.p.) injection of 1.0 ml of 10% CCl4/kg body weight dissolved in olive oil, twice a week, for six weeks. Following liver fibrosis induction, one group left as liver fibrosis control, and the other group was treated with Propolis (100 mg/kg body weight dissolved in 50% ethanol) through oral gavage for four weeks.
Honey Spring propolis was purchased from Al Gharbiyah, Egypt. After the expiration of the treatment, all mice were anesthetized with ether and killed for collection of blood samples and organs (liver, spleen, lymph nodes, and thymus) for biochemical analysis and histological examination.