Research Article Evaluation of the Chinese Medicinal Herb, Graptopetalum paraguayense, as a Therapeutic Treatment for Liver Damage in Rat Models

Copyright © 2012 Li-Jen Su et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The incidence of cirrhosis is rising due to the widespread occurrence of chronic hepatitis, as well as the evident lack of an established therapy for hepatic fibrosis. In the search for hepatoprotective therapeutic agents, Graptopetalum paraguayense (GP) showed greater cytotoxicity toward hepatic stellate cells than other tested herbal medicines. Histopathological and biochemical analyses suggest that GP treatment significantly prevented DMN-induced hepatic inflammation and fibrosis in rats. Microarray profiling indicated that expression of most of metabolism- and cell growth and/or maintenance-related genes recovered to near norma