Fig. 2

Effect of L-carnitine (LCAR, 300 and 500 mg/kg/day, IP) on liver morphology and hepatic histopathological features in dexamethasone (DEXA)-toxified rats. A Representative macroscopic images of the livers from the different groups (scale bar, 1 cm), B Histological microimages of H&E-stained hepatic Sect. (100× magnification; scale bar, 100 μm and 400× magnification in insets; scale bar, 50 μm), C Semi-quantitative scoring of the hepatic histopathological alterations. Panel B. Control and LCAR500 groups display normal hepatic cords around central veins. DEXA-group shows steatohepatitis with inflammatory foci (thin arrow) and diffused hepatic vacuolation (arrowhead). Inset, numerous macro (arrowhead) and micro lipid droplets (thick arrow) with few invading neutrophils (circle). DEXA-MET groups show haptic sections with moderately swelled hepatocytes (thin arrow). The section of the DEXA-LCAR300 group demonstrates diffuse severe ballooned hepatocytes (thick arrow), while the section from the DEXA-LCAR500 group displays modest ballooning degeneration of hepatocytes (thick arrow). Panel C. Data are shown as medians ± interquartile range, n = 6 per group; * P < 0.05 versus the control group