Hepatoprotective effect of Indonesian propolis from Apis mellifera in carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) induced liver injury in mice

Abstract Propolis has been reported to have a broad spectrum of biological activities. The objective of this study was to investigate the hepatoprotective effect of propolis on liver injury induced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4). Twenty-five adult mice were randomly divided into five groups of five. The normal group received distilled water; positive control group was given CCl4 at 2.8 mL/kg BW orally, other groups were given the same dose of CCl4, followed by oral propolis at 25, 50, and 100 mg/kg BW, respectively, for 14 days. On the 15th day, the mice were sacrificed for the measurements of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), total protein, and albumin, as well as examination of liver histology. The data were analyzed using a one-way ANOVA and, subsequently, by Duncan’s Multiple Range Test. The results demonstrated that propolis had a hepatoprotective effect as shown by significant improvement of the biochemical parameters (p <0.05), which was confirmed by the liver histological analytical results. The most potent hepatoprotective effect was found after the dose of 100 mg/kg BW.