Quantification of the Healing Effect in Hepatic Fibrosis Induced by Chitosan Nano-Encapsulated Green Tea in Rat Model

摘要

Green tea extract exhibits several beneficial activities for the human body. In the present work, we explored the healing effect of a novel bio-nano particle named 'Chitosan nano-encapsulated green tea extract' at the ultrastructural level by performing experiments on rat hepatocytes. A fixed volume of Chitosan nano-encapsulated green tea extract solution was administered orally to a group of adult rats for 25 days, after being treated with carbon-tetrachloride and ethanol doses for 3 weeks. Images of ultra-thin sections of liver samples from these rats were recorded in a transmission electron microscope. Using computational analysis, we probed the images quantitatively and found that Chitosan nano-encapsulated green tea extract heals nearly 25% of the sub-cellular area infected with hepatic fibrosis, suggesting its high medicinal value. Scanning electron microscopy was performed to study the topographical changes of cell surface as well as the extracellular matrix network between the hepatocytes, which further confirmed the healing effect.