Protective effects of Foeniculum vulgare root bark extract against carbon tetrachloride-induced hepatic fibrosis in mice

Antioxidant and hepatoprotective effects of novel heteropolysaccharide isolated from Lobularia maritima on CCl4-induced liver injury in rats

The aim of the present study was to investigate the extraction and the characterization of a novel heteropolysaccharide from Tunisian halophyte Lobularia maritima (LmPS). We were also interested in its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and hepatoprotective effects on carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced liver injury in rats. LmPS physicochemical properties were evaluated by thin-layer chromatography (TLC), high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and UV absorption. According to TLC and HPLC results, LmPS was a heteropolysaccharide composed of glucose, galactose, and xylose. Its molecular weight was 130.62 kDa. This heteropolysaccharide was characterized by a significant antioxidant potential and was efficient against oxidative stress and CCL4-induced hepatotoxicity in rat Wistar models (n = 8) treated with a single dose of LmPS 250 mg/kg of body weight. This was evidenced by a significant increase in serum marker enzymes specially aspartate transaminase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). The cytokines released after stimulation of rats with LmPS showed high anti-inflammatory profiles with an increased rate of interleukine-10 (IL-10) with 0.03 pg/mL compared to animals treated only with CCl4. On the contrary, we noticed a decrease of the other cytokines (tumor necrosis factor α: TNF-α, interleukine-6: IL-6, transforming growth factor beta 1: TGF-β1) with average concentration values of <0.2, 0.1, and 0.04 pg/mL, respectively. Besides, histopathological examinations revealed that CCl4 causes acute liver damage, characterized by extensive hepatocellular necrosis, vacuolization, and inflammatory cell infiltration, as well as DNA fragmentation. LmPS administration at a dose of 250 mg/kg resulted in a significant hepatoprotection, evidenced by a reduction of CCl4-induced oxidative damage for all tested markers. These findings eagerly confirmed that LmPS was effective in the protection against CCl4-induced hepatotoxicity and genotoxicity. It, therefore, suggested a potential therapeutic use of this polysaccharide as an alternative medicine for patients with acute liver diseases.

Prevalence and current therapy in chronic liver disorders

BACKGROUND

Herbal medicine plays an important role in health, particularly in remote parts of developing areas with few health facilities. According to WHO estimates, about three-quarters of the world's population currently use herbs or traditional medicines to treat various ailments, including liver diseases. Several studies have found that the use of medicinal plants was effective in the treatment of infectious and non-infectious diseases. Hepatitis and liver cirrhosis associated with many clinical manifestations can be treated with allopathic medicines, but reports of a number of side effects including immunosuppression, bone marrow suppression, and renal complications have motivated researchers to explore more natural herbal medicines with low or no side effects and with high efficacy in treating hepatic diseases.

METHODS

Databases including PubMed, Medline, and Google Scholar were searched for findings on the hepatoprotective effects of plants.

RESULTS

Various medicinal plants are used for the treatment of liver disorders. The range of alternative therapies is huge, and they are used worldwide, either as part of primary health care or in combination with conventional medicine. Hepatoprotective plants contain a variety of chemical constituents including flavonoids, alkaloids, glycosides, carotenoids, coumarins, phenols, essential oil, organic acids, monoterpenes, xanthenes, lignans, and lipids.

CONCLUSION

This review shows that numerous plants are found to contain hepatoprotective compounds. However, further studies are needed to determine their association with existing regimes of antiviral medicines and to develop evidence-based alternative medicine to cure different kinds of liver disease in humans.

Protective effect of Monodora myristica extracts on crude petroleum oil-contaminated catfish (Clarias gariepinus) diet in rats

Humans and animals are constantly exposed to crude petroleum contaminated diets in petroleum producing areas of the world. As a result, researches are on-going to find simple ameliorative agent against crude petroleum contaminated diet toxicity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the protective effect of Monodora myristica on some biochemical parameters of rats fed with crude petroleum oil contaminated catfish diet (CPO-CCD). Thirty male albino rats were separated into six groups of five rats as follows: group 1: control, group 2: rats were fed CPO-CCD only, group 3: CPO-CCD plus 1 ml/kg of 1 % tween 80, group 4: CPO-CCD plus M. myristica water extract (MWE), group 5: CPO-CCD plus M. myristica ethanol extract (MEE) and group 6: CPO-CCD plus M. myristica diethyl ether extract (MDEE). The feeding of the rats with CPO-CCD and administration of extracts orally lasted for 28 days. The results showed significant (P < 0.05) increase in aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) in the serum and tissues (liver, kidney and brain) and decrease in total protein, albumin and globulin in the serum and liver of group 2 and 3 when compared with group 1. Significant (P < 0.05) decrease in AST, ALT, ALP activities and increase in total protein, albumin and globulin levels were observed after treatment with M. myristica extracts (group 4, 5, and 6) when compared with group 1. However, it could be concluded that MDEE revealed a strong effect when compared with the MEE and MWE.