Abstract: In order to explore the hepatoprotective effect of peanut peptide (PP) on D-galactose (D-Gal)-induced liver damage in rats, fifty rats were randomly divided into five groups designated as control group, model group and three PP-treated groups. Except for the control group, the other groups were subcutaneously injected with D-Gal solution at a daily dosage of 400 mg/kg for 50 successive days to establish oxidative damage model. Meanwhile, rats in PP treatment groups were orally administered with PP at dosages of 200, 500 mg/kg and 800 mg/kg, respectively. The biochemical index, lipofuscin (LF) content, and superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and catalase (CAT) activities in liver were analyzed. In addition, histopathological characters in liver tissues were observed under a light microscope. The results showed that a D-Gal-induced rat model with liver damage was successfully established. PP significantly decreased the levels of TBA, ALT and ALP in serum and LF in liver, and obviously increased the levels of SOD, GSH-Px and CAT in liver in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, the histopathological characters of liver tissues in PP treatment group at high dosage were close to those in the control group. Therefore, PP has an excellent protective capability against liver damage in D-Gal-induced rats.

Key words: peanut peptide, liver damage, D-galactose, hepatoprotective effect