ResearchArticle Therapeutic Effects of Milk Thistle (Silybum marianum L.) and Artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.) on Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Type 2 Diabetic Rats Aida Doostkam , 1 Mohammad Fathalipour , 2 Mohammad Hossein Anbardar , 3 Azar Purkhosrow , 4 and Hossein Mirkhani 4,5 1 Shiraz Nephro-Urology Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran 2 Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandar Abbas, Iran 3 Department of Pathology, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran 4 Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran 5 Medicinal and Natural Products Chemistry Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran Correspondence should be addressed to Hossein Mirkhani; mirkhanh@sums.ac.ir Received 16 May 2021; Revised 19 January 2022; Accepted 24 January 2022; Published 11 February 2022 Academic Editor: Ravindran Caspa Gokulan Copyright © 2022 Aida Doostkam et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Background. At present, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) does not have an approved pharmacologic therapy. e present study investigated the protective effects and possible mechanisms of milk thistle (Silybummarianum L.) and artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.) in treating NAFLD in type 2 diabetic rats. Methods. e NAFLD was established in rats after four weeks of type 2 diabetes induction. e animals were treated with pharmaceutical preparations of milk thistle (Livergol ® ) and artichoke (Atheromod-B ® ) extracts for eight weeks. After the end of the intervention, oral glucose tolerance, the serum parameters of oxidative stress, liver functional tests, and lipid profiles were evaluated. Histopathological changes were assessed by hematoxylin and eosin staining. Results. Treatment with preparations of milk thistle and artichoke nonsignificantly improved glucose tolerance in diabetic rats. Both preparations significantly improved serum superoxide dismutase activity and the level of malondialdehyde. Although treatment with milk thistle reduced serum activity of aspartate aminotransferase and serum levels of triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, artichoke extracts only attenuated the serum level of TG. Milk thistle also effectively protected the liver from histological changes. Conclusions. Milk thistle could be a promising pharmacological option for the treatment of NAFLD. Nonetheless, long-term randomized clinical trials are necessary to confirm the observed results. 1.Introduction Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a common metabolic disorder characterized by high plasma glucose over a long period due to defects in insulin synthesis, insulin receptor, or post- receptor signaling pathway events. Chronic hyperglycemia is the leading cause of microvascular and macrovascular complications of DM [1]. More than 90% of diabetic patients with diabetes are afflicted by type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). In type 2 diabetes, elevated plasma glucose and free fatty acid levels lead to oxidative stress, β-cell dysfunction, insulin resistance, and metabolic syndrome [2, 3]. One of the manifestations of these cellular and molecular disorders is a nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), a chronic liver disease [4]. NAFLD is a pathological condition characterized by hepatic fat accumulation not caused by the consumption of alcohol. It consists of a spectrum of liver diseases, from simple steatosis to steatohepatitis, hepatic fibrosis, chronic cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma [5]. In addition to Hindawi Canadian Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Volume 2022, Article ID 2868904, 8 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/2868904