Abstract

Ethanol cannot be excreted and must be metabolized in the liver. Alcoholic liver disease is a blanket term for conditions related specifically to the liver and alcohol use. The study aimed to evaluate the metabolic, biochemical and histological effects of the oral supplementation with beta-carotene on the liver of C57BL/6 mice exposed to ethanol consumption. Thirty male C57BL/6 mice (Mus musculus) were divided into six experimental groups: Control (C), Low-dose alcohol (LA), Moderate-dose alcohol (MA), beta-carotene (B), Low-dose alcohol+beta-carotene (LA+B) and Moderate-dose alcohol+beta-carotene (MA+B) group. One-way ANOVA was used. The greatest intake of calories was noted in the LA (65.4 +/- 12.5 kJ) and MA (68.6 +/- 18.6 kJ) groups. The LA+B and MA+B groups shown an improvement in the HOMA-IR index (8.7 +/- 2.4 and 6.7 +/- 3.5, respectively), increased ADH levels (16.2 +/- 1.6 and 18.9 +/- 0.5 pmol/minmL(-1), respectively) and decreased insulin levels (14.0 +/- 3.3 and 10.6 +/- 5.7 mu UmL(-1), respectively). It was also observed that oral supplementation with beta-carotene improved the hepatic parenchyma in the L4+B group, showing normal-sized hepatocytes, whereas in the MA+B group it relieved the structural damage, revealing fewer lipid droplets than the MA group.