Effects of an Agaricus blazei Aqueous Extract Pretreatment on Paracetamol-Induced Brain and Liver Injury in Rats

Table 1

Weight and morphological characteristics of rat livers from the four experimental groups used in the present study. Means and observations were derived from 5 animals in each group. Histological damage was scored into four damage levels: absent (0), mild (+), moderate (++), and severe (+++). The software Image-Pro Plus 4.5 was used to estimate the percentage of liver degeneration. For additional experimental details and a more complete description of the experimental groups see Section 2.

Groups	Liver weights	Morphological aspects	Liver damage scores				Estimates of liver degeneration
			0	+	++	+++
I, control	9.02 ± 0.69	Uniformly red and soft consistency	5	0	0	0	—
II, A. blazei pretreatment	9.16 ± 1.17	Uniformly red and soft consistency	5	0	0	0	—
III, paracetamol injury	11.50 ± 0.86	Larger, whitish, and with nodules	0	1	3	1	11.78%
IV, A. blazei pretreatment + paracetamol injury	10.40 ± 1.61	Larger, whitish, and with nodules	1	0	3	1	9.89%