Abstract
IntroductionStress is a well-known factor for inflammation in diverse organs/tissues. Stress also leads to liver injury, which was supported by clinical observations and animal studies. We herein investigated the hepatoprotective property of an herbal formula (called as CGplus) consisting of Artemisia gmelinii Weber ex Stechm. (syn, Artemisia iwayomogi Kitamura), Wurfbainia villosa var. xanthioides (Wall. ex Baker) Skornick. & A.D.Poulsen (syn, Amomum xanthioides Wallich), and Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge against stress-induced hepatic damage.MethodsMale BALB/c mice were orally administered water extract of CGplus (0, 50, 100, or 200 mg/kg) daily for 5 days, and then subjected to immobilization stress for 6 h on the 5th day.ResultsAcute immobilization stress elevated remarkably serum concentrations of stress hormones (corticosterone and adrenaline) and two hepatic injury parameters (ALT and AST), while these alterations were significantly attenuated by the administration of CGplus. The increases of oxidative parameters (ROS, NO, lipid peroxidation, and protein carbonyl) and deviation of IL-1β and IL-10 in opposite directions in hepatic tissues were significantly normalized by CGplus. Pre-treatment with CGplus also notably ameliorated the abnormal activation of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), CD14, and lipopolysaccharide-binding protein (LPB) as well as infiltration of neutrophils in hepatic tissues.ConclusionThese results suggest that an herbal formula (CGplus) derived from traditional pharmaceutical theory has a potent protective effect against stress-induced hepatic injury via regulation of pro- (IL-1β) and anti-inflammatory (IL-10) cytokines.
Highlights
IntroductionStress leads to liver injury, which was supported by clinical observations and animal studies
Stress is a well-known factor for inflammation in diverse organs/tissues
Immobilization stress markedly increased the serum levels of both aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) by approximately 7.1-and 4.5-fold, respectively, compared to the naive group, whereas these alterations were significantly attenuated by pretreatment with CGplus compared to the control group (P< 0.05 or 0.01 for 100 and 200 mg/kg, Figures 2C, D)
Summary
Stress leads to liver injury, which was supported by clinical observations and animal studies. & A.D.Poulsen (syn, Amomum xanthioides Wallich), and Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge against stress-induced hepatic damage. Methods: Male BALB/c mice were orally administered water extract of CGplus (0, 50, 100, or 200 mg/kg) daily for 5 days, and subjected to immobilization stress for 6 h on the 5th day. Several animal models have shown that stress aggravates toxic agentinduced liver damage and triggers liver injury in normal rodents (Fernández et al, 2000; Chida et al, 2004b). The corresponding mechanisms are thought to involve the alteration of hepatic blood flow (Chida et al, 2005), over productions of reactive oxygen species (ROS) (Kovács et al, 1996) and proinflammatory cytokines (Zhou et al, 2001) and gut-derived lipopolysaccharides (LPS) influx under stress condition (Lambert, 2009). The detail mechanisms are still unclear and any therapeutics does not exist yet
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