Effect of Silymarin and/or Bone Marrow-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells on Carbon Tetrachloride-Induced Hepatotoxicity in Rats

Hepatic fibrosis has been diagnosed in more than 10% of the world population and is still with limited treatments. This work explored whether silymarin and bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) combination can remodel the hepatotoxicity induced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) in rats. Fifty rats were equally distributed into five groups: healthy control, CCl4 hepatotoxicity rat model, CCl4 + silymarin treated, CCl4 + BM-MSCs treated, CCl4 + silymarin + BM-MSCs treated. Serum liver function tests, hepatic tissue oxidative enzymes and cytokines were assessed. Akt and P-Akt proteins expression was estimated by Western blot. Livers were examined histologically using two types of staining. The cultured BM-MSCs positively expressed CD73, CD105, and CD29 and negatively expressed CD34 and CD45. The morphology of the BM-MSCs changed from spindle-shaped to oblate-shaped after hepatogenic differentiation. In CCl4 hepatotoxicity rat model, a significant increase in transaminases (P