Abstract
Nymphaea candida is traditional Uighur medicine that is commonly used to treat head pains, cough, hepatitis and hypertension in Xinjiang of China. In this article, the extract of N. candida was measured for antioxidant activity, using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicals scavenging assay and reducing power determination, and compared with those of the positive controls of butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and gallic acid (GA). The active extract was further purified by liquid-liquid partition to afford four fractions, of which the ethyl acetate-soluble (EA) fraction (NCE) exhibited the strongest antioxidant capacity with IC50 value of 12.6 μg/mL for DPPH. Thirteen phenolic compounds were isolated from this fraction, and they all showed significant antioxidant activities in DPPH model system. Furthermore, NCE showed potent antioxidant capacity with IC50 value of 59.32 μg/mL, 24.48 μg/mL and 86.85 μg/mL, for O2 −, ·OH and H2O2 radicals, respectively. Moreover, NCE on BCG plus LPS-induced immunological liver injury was evaluated using primary cultured rat hepatocytes. NCE produced significant hepatoprotective effects as evidenced by decreased supernatant enzyme activities (AST—aspartate transaminase, P < .01; ALT—alanine transferase, P < .01) and nitric oxide (NO, P < .01) production. These results revealed the in vitro antioxidant and hepatoprotective activities of NCE against immunological liver injury. Further investigations are necessary to verify these activities in vivo.
Highlights
Liver is considered a key organ in the metabolism, secretion, storage and detoxifying functions in the body, and hepatic damage is associated with distortion of these functions [1]
The immunological hepatotoxicity of primary cultured rat hepatocytes can be induced by Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) combined lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treatment in vitro, and this model has implicated the involvement of release of various cytokines and active free radicals [4, 5]
With respect to the four fractions obtained, the greatest amount of phenolic compounds was found in the ethyl acetate-soluble (EA) fraction (NCE) with the value of 25.7 ± 2.1 g/100 g total phenolic expressed as gallic aicd equivalent (GAE, g/100 g of gallic acid equivalent (GAE))
Summary
Liver is considered a key organ in the metabolism, secretion, storage and detoxifying functions in the body, and hepatic damage is associated with distortion of these functions [1]. Liver diseases are mainly caused by toxic chemicals, excess consumption of alcohol, infections and autoimmune disorders. Liver produces large amounts of oxygen free radicals (reactive oxygen species (ROS)) in the course of detoxifying xenobiotic and toxic substances, and oxidative stress caused by ROS has been shown to be linked to liver diseases, such as hepatotoxicity, and other liver pathological conditions [2, 3]. Immunological mechanisms and oxidative stress play important role in liver injury induced by BCG plus LPS [6]. At present, this model has frequently been used as useful experimental means for testing and developing new drugs [7,8,9]
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