In vivo Pharmacological Effectiveness of Heat-treated Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) Juice against CCI4- induced Detoxification in a Rat Model

Background: Detoxification of heavy metals such as carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) poisoning has become a major focus of researchers. Objectives: In this study, heat-treated cucumber juice was assessed for its pharmacological effect on protection of carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced acute liver and kidney damages. Methods: Initially, during detoxification of CCl4, the rats of all groups except the control group (without treatment) were injected with a single intraperitoneal dose of 2.5 mL CCl4/kg with 50% concentration (1:1 ratio; v/v in olive oil). Additionally, CCl4-treated rats were also dosed with saline, 10 mg/kg, 100 mg/kg, and 500 mg/kg cucumber juice for 1, 3 and 5 days once in a day after 6 h from CCl4 administration. Results: As a result, the best concentration of cucumber juice was noted to be 10 mg/kg, which showed remarkable protective effect on body weight (212-217 g), enzymatic activities of aspartate aminotransferase (AST; 53 IU/L), alanine aminotransferase (ALT; 125 IU/L), blood urea nitrogen (BUN; 18.8 mg/dL), and creatinine content (0.65 mg/dL) as compared to control (220-232 g; 477 IU/L; 987 IU/L; 16.8 mg/dL; and 0.95 mg/dL), respectively. Moreover, histology and histomorphometry analysis of liver and kidney led to significant reduction in percentage of hepatopathy and nephropathy parameters such as hepatic (46.90±2.63%) and kidney (39.86±2.01) degenerative regions, number of hepatocytes (638.00±47.25), tubules (327.60±26.67) and glomerulus (29.20±1.36). Conclusion: These findings suggest that heat-treated cucumber juice has a significant pharmacological effect on CCl4-induced acute liver and kidney damages in experimental rats.