RESUMO
AIM: To study the protective effect of grape procyanidins on oxidative injury induced by ethanol and carbon tetrachloride in rat hepatocytes. METHODS: Normal rat hepatocytes as well as cells damaged by ethanol or carbon tetrachloride were incubated with different doses of grape procyanidins for 24 h. Cell proliferation, apoptosis and TNFalpha mRNA expression were subsequently determined using MTT assay, cell death ELISA and in situ hybridization. RESULTS: Proliferative levels of the control cells from ethanol and CCl(4) injury groups significantly decreased while apoptosis and TNFalpha mRNA expression significantly increased compared to the normal control and grape procyanidins co-treatment groups (0.455 +/- 0.051 vs 0.318 +/- 0.045, P < 0.05). In comparison with the normal control, 50 and 100 mg/L grape procyanidins significantly stimulated cell growth, with a better effect observed with 100 mg/L grape procyanidins. CONCLUSION: Grape procyanidins inhibit the hepatocyte damage induced by ethanol and carbon tetrachloride, and stimulate normal hepatocyte proliferation.