Assessment of toxic liver cirrhosis and its prevention through herbal hepatoprotectors with a proposed innovative strategy

Abstract

Background: In contemporary medicine, effective andnosologically less harmful approaches for the prevention and treatment of liver cirrhosis remain insufficient, as indicated by the projected increase in mortality over the next decade. In recent years, the discovery and development of herbal medicine have surged. Therefore, a critical need of our time is to identify more comprehensive and novel strategies for studying liver cirrhosis to develop more effective prevention and therapy, such as those in this scientific paper.

Objective: This study aims to observe the progressive dynamics of toxic liver cirrhosis using a novel preliminary diagnostic approach centered on the morphofunctional interrelationship of the liver, lungs, and kidneys and subsequently to formulate therapy strategies employing the proposed Flasil herbal combination.

Methods: CCl₄-induced liver cirrhosis model was used in this prospective investigation. Mixtures (Flasil 1 and 2) prepared from active compounds of Helichrysum rubicundum (C. Koch.) flowers and S. marianum seeds grown in Armenia. At the end of the experiment, H&E staining was used to assess histological abnormalities in the liver and adjacent organs.

Results: Research has demonstrated that toxic liver disease can manifest signs of pulmonary and renal disorders in the pre-cirrhotic state. Histopathological analysis showed that both Flasil formulations exhibited hepatoprotective effects while concurrently reducing pathological changes in pulmonary and renal tissues. Flasil 2 was more effective in promoting liver and kidney repair through enhanced hepatocyte regeneration, whereas Flasil 1 demonstrated greater efficacy in supporting lung tissue regeneration during the acute-to-chronic transition of liver cirrhosis. . However, non-invasive tests are needed to demonstrate both the feasibility of the proposed strategy and the different biological activities of the new Flasil combination according to the dose.

Novelty: A liver-lung-kidney morphofunctional correlation tactical approach for the initial diagnosis of cirrhosis was assessed for the first time. FLASIL is the first natural product shown to affect liver-lung-kidney dysfunction in a CCl₄ model. 

Conclusion: This new approach (diagnosing through the liver-lung-kidney morphofunctional linkage) enables early detection and, based on it, prevention of cirrhosis by regulating its dynamics and giving varying dosages of the Flasil combination as an innovative herbal hepatoprotector. However, they necessitate the investigation of further diagnostic criteria.

Keywords: liver cirrhosis, new approach, liver-lung-kidney linkage, herbal medicine, Flasil