Abstract
Trapa acornis (TA) pulp is one of the most popular vegetables and fruits with unique taste in China. Our previous study showed that T. acornis shell (TAS) had strong antioxidant activityin vitro. Polyphenols and i¬‚avonoids have contributed to antioxidant activity; and hepatoprotective activity also has relationship with antioxidant activity. Nevertheless, there have been no reports on total phenolic content (TPC) and total i¬‚avonoid content (TFC) of extracts of TAS and hepatoprotective activity of TAS extracts against CCl4-induced liver injury in rats. There was intragastric administration of ethyl acetate extract (TASEA) and n-butanol extract (TASBU) of T. acornis shell in rats for 8 days; and the last administration was done after 2 h, except for the normal control group. Other groups were all given 0.4% CCl4 at the dose of 100 mL/kg diluted in olive oil by intraperitoneal injection. Results showed that the levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) in each treatment group were significantly decreased (P<0.001 and P<0.01 respectively). The level of malondialdehyde (MDA) was significantly decreased in liver tissue (P<0.001). In addition to TASEA (200 mg/kg b.w.), the level of superoxide dismutase (SOD) in liver tissue for treatment group was significantly increased (P<0.001, P <0.01 and P<0.05, respectively). It is demonstrated that extracts of TAS had hepatoprotective effect on CCl4-induced liver injury, which may be attributable to its antioxidant activity. Key words: Trapa acornis, total phenolic, total i¬‚avonoid, antioxidant activity, hepatoprotective effect.
Highlights
CCl4 is widely used to induce liver injury in animal models and is a potent lipid-soluble hepatotoxic agent
Our research demonstrated that antioxidant activity was consistent with an increase of total phenolics
Some researchers have reported that fractions of water caltrop pericarps contained total phenolic content from 3.8 to 42.1 g GAE/ 100 g d.b, and total flavonoids from 9.2 to 47.7 g QE/100 g d.b. (Chiang and Ciou, 2010)
Summary
CCl4 is widely used to induce liver injury in animal models and is a potent lipid-soluble hepatotoxic agent. It produces peroxidative degeneration of many tissues (Szymonik-Lesiuk et al, 2003). CCl4 metabolites react with polyunsaturated fatty acids and form covalent adducts with lipids and proteins. These events lead to lipid peroxidation and destruction of cell membranes with the consequent liver injury (Clawson, 1989; Recknagel et al, 1989). Natural constituents of plant can be derived from any parts of plants like bark, leaves, roots, fruits, seeds and fruit shells. Many studies have shown that polyphenolic and flavonoid compounds were found in tea, fruits, vegetables and herbs, several of which display antioxidant and ROS scavenging properties (Abdelly, 2009; Ksouri et al, 2010; Prasad et al, 2009; Komes et al, 2010; Mlcek and Rop, 2011)
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