Curcuma longa (turmeric) powder is used abundantly as spice. Turmeric has also been traditionally applied to treat some diseases such as skin inflammation and trauma, bile disorders, diabetes and cancer, especially through Asia and India. Antioxidant properties and therapeutic effects of turmeric have been reported in several literatures. Curcumin as theTurmeric effective substance is used frequently in the investigations but since people are usually using the turmeric powder, this study was performed by administration of its powder. Wistar male rats were used as experimental animals (n=6) in this study. Plasma Aspartate Amino Transferase (AST) and Alanine Amino Transferase (ALT) levels were measured before and 24 h, one week and two weeks after i.p. injection of CCL4 (0.005 cc/kg), dissolved in liquid paraffin (0.5 cc/kg). In sham control group, animals were treated only by the vehicle. To investigate the therapeutic effects of the turmeric, in post treatment group, animals were orally treated with turmeric rhizome powder (4 g/kg/day) after CCL4 injection. To investigate both the protective and therapeutic effects of the turmeric in pre and post-treatment group, 15 days oral pretreatment of Curcuma longa powder was applied to the animals, and it was followed by post treatment of the powder after CCL4 injection for several days. To investigate the protective effects of the turmeric in pre-treatment group, treatment was as same as the previous group, except the post treatment. In comparison to sham control, AST and ALT levels in the control group significantly increased 24 hrs after CCL4 treatment and remained high until the last measurement (p<0.001), but there were no significant differences between sham control and other three groups. In the histophysiological study, vacuolar state, hepatocyte lipofication and necrosis were chosen as hepatocytotoxicity criterions, in comparison to sham control group, hepatocytotoxicity was obvious, but there were no hepatocytotoxicity in the pre- and pre+post-treated groups, 24 and 48 h after CCL4 injection. The results showed possible therapeutic and protective effects of Curcuma longa powder on the hepatocyte damage induced by CCL4.

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