A rat model of hepatic veno-occlusive disease induced by the Gynura root water decoction

Objective To study the pathological lesions of rat liver induced by the Gynura root water decoction, and establish a rat model for hepatic veno-occlusive disease (HVOD) .Methods 2100 gram Gynura root was prepared into the water decoction with the concentration of 1.5 g/ml.Group A, B and C with 20 SD rats were perfused intragastrically with the Gynura root water decoction with different concentrations of 15 g·kg-1·d-1, 7.5 g·kg-1·d-1 and 3.75 g·kg-1·d-1, respectively.Group D was perfused intragastrically with water which served as the controls.The ratio of male to female was 1:1 in every group.The body weights and symptoms were observed every day.Half of the rats from each group were killed and their liver samples were stained with H&E and Masson techniques after one week and two weeks of drug administration respectively.Results The pathological manifestations of HVOD were observed in the 15 rats of 18 (83.3%) in group A, 15 of 20 (75.0%) in group B and 5 of 20 (40.0%) in group C.With the same dose, the female rats were prone to HVOD.After re-grouping by gender, pathological manifestations of HVOD could be found in 23 of the 29 male rats and 12 of the 29 female rats (79.3% vs 41.3%, P=0.003) .Conclusion The rat HVOD model could be induced by the Gynura root water decoction successfully which was associated with the concentration and gender.