4. Discussion
Liver fibrosis, which is mainly generated in response to environmental toxicity, viral infection, and alcohol, causes liver cirrhosis
and hepatocellular carcinomas (Bataller and Brenner, 2005). In
Taiwan, hepatocellular carcinoma is one of the leading causes of
cancer-related deaths. Thus, the prevention of liver fibrosis is an
important issue. The current study is the first to demonstrate that
MWEs can cure CCl4-induced liver damage and fibrosis via the
reduction of lipid peroxidation and downregulation of proinflammatory gene expression. In addition, MWEs display a protective efficiency similar to that of silymarin, indicating that MWEs are potential protective agents against liver fibrosis