Key words:liver, thioacetamide, silymarin, alpha lipoic acid, rats.The present study was designed to study the ameliorative role of alpha lipoic acid (ALA) and silymarin (SIL) against thioacetamide (TAA)-induced hepatic damage. Sixty male albino rats were randomly separated into 6 groups (n=10); control group, TAA-treated group: received intraperitoneal injection of TAA 250 mg/kg bwt/day three times a week, ALAtreated group: received ALA 100 mg/kg bwt/day) orally three times a week, SIL-treated group: received SIL 100 mg/kg bwt/day orally three times a week, TAA+ALA-treated group, and TAA+SIL-treated group at the same previous doses and routes for ten weeks. Results showed that TAA induced a significant elevation in total and direct bilirubin, total cholesterol and triglycerides levels and serum liver enzymes after four and ten weeks of the treatments. While the serum levels of total proteins, albumin and high density lipoproteincholesterol revealed a significant decrease. TAA injection resulted in an increase in the hepatic lipid peroxidation and decreased levels of antioxidant biomarker. Histopathologically, TAA revealed marked degenerative, necrotic and fibrotic alterations in the liver, particularly during ten weeks post-treatment. ALA and SIL-treatment ameliorated TAA-induced oxidative damage, alterations in the liver function tests and liver histopathology. However, ALA demonstrated better hepatic protection against TAAinduced liver damage as compared to SIL. The study clearly concluded that ALA has more powerful antioxidant properties than SIL.

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