Frankincense reduces the hepatic encephalopathy-induced inflammation in the rat hippocampus

Hepatic encephalopathy is one of the brain diseases induced by hepatic failure. Patients show a broad spectrum of neuronal disturbances. In this disease, due to the failure of the liver in detoxification, the level of toxic compounds including ammonia increases in the blood. On the other hand, ammonia-increase in the brain induces neuroinflammation. Frankincense has neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory properties. Due to the effect of hepatic encephalopathy on the increase in the inflammatory factors, this study aimed to evaluate the potential anti-inflammatory effect of frankincense in the rat hippocampus. Twenty adult male Wistar rats were used. Three groups of animals underwent the surgery for ligation of the common bile duct. In two groups, frankincense was gavaged in doses ۱۰۰, and ۲۰۰ mg/kg, one week before surgery to the day of sacrifice. The sham group was treated as the other groups and received saline, but the bile-duct was not ligated. ۲۸ days after surgery, animals were euthanized under deep anesthesia, and their hippocampi were removed. The expression levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) were measured by the real-time PCR method. Hepatic encephalopathy upregulated TNF-α, and frankincense reduced its expression levels, significantly. The results indicated that frankincense improved hepatic encephalopathy-induced neuro-inflammation by reduction of the inflammatory factor TNF-α. Therefore, prolonged consumption of frankincense as a potent anti-inflammatory compound is recommended in the patients

کلیدواژه ها:

Tumor necrosis factor-α ، Brain ، Neuroinflammation