Abstract: Purpose: To investigate the protective effect of honey polyphenol extract (HPE) on acute alcoholic hepatic injury in rats. Methods: Rats were randomly divided into blank control, model control, drug control (100 mg/(kg mb·d)), low- and high-dose HPE groups (100 and 200 mg/(kg mb·d)). After intragastric administration for 30 consecutive days, all rats except those in the blank control group were administered with Chinese Baiju containing 56% (V/V) alcohol at a dose of 15 mL/kg mb by gavage to establish an acute liver injury model. Twelve hours later, serum transaminase activity and antioxidant and anti-inflammatory indexes in liver were measured. The relative mRNA expression levels of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and p38 kinase (p38) were determined by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining was performed to observe the pathological changes of liver tissues. Results: Compared with the model group, the levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransaminase (AST), malondialdehyde (MDA) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) were decreased in the HPE treatment groups, and the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and the level of reduced glutathione (GSH) were increased. Moreover, HPE downregulated the relative mRNA expression of ERK, JNK and p38, and improved the pathological changes of liver tissues. Conclusion: HPE has a protective effect on acute alcoholic liver injury in rats, and the underlying mechanism may be related to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities.

Key words: honey polyphenol extract; acute alcoholic liver injury; protective effect; antioxidant activity; anti-inflammatory activity