Abstract
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of Berberis vulgaris water extract (BWE) against CCl4-induced hepatotoxicity and LPS/PCM induced- hepatic inflammation in the experimental animal models. CCl4 (100 ug/kg, oral) administration for 28 days as well as the co-administration of LPS (250 ug/kg bw) and PCM (2 g/kg bw) for 28 days resulted in massive elevation in serum and hepatic prooxidants and inflammatory parameters (thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), tissue tumor necrosis factor–alpha (TNF-α), interleukin 6 (IL-6) and IL-12 and nitric oxide (NO) with depletion in antioxidants system (superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx). These alterations were combined with elevation of serum liver function tests (alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST) and alkaline phosphatase level and (ALP). Oral administration of the BWE (100 mg/kg) for 15 days showed hepatoprotective and anti-inflammatory effects against both CCl4 and LPS/PCM as it increased the activities of antioxidants enzymes, decreased the prooxidants and inflammatory markers levels and improved the serum liver function tests levels. The obtained findings thus suggest that B. vulgaris aqueous extract has protective roles against hepatic toxicity and hepatic inflammation due to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Key words: Carbon tetrachloride, paracetamol, lipopolysaccharide, glutathione peroxidase, alanine transferase.
Highlights
Berberis vulgaris L. (B. vulgaris) is a well-known medicinal plant which belongs to Berberidaceae family that is cultivated in Asia and Europe
B. vulgaris ethanolic extract in vitro and in vivo anti-inflammatory activity was noted by the reduction of proinflammatory cytokines as well as acute phase proteins (Xie et al, 2013) where it decreased TNF-α, IL-6, IL-1β, matrix metalloprotease 9 (MMP9), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX2), inducible NOS, monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1) and C-reactive protein (CRP) and haptoglobin (HP) (Choi et al, 2006)
Immunological liver injury model which was induced by LPS/Paracetamol was found to reflect the clinical situation of hepatitis more accurately both of these in vivo models were used in this study
Summary
Berberis vulgaris L. (B. vulgaris) is a well-known medicinal plant which belongs to Berberidaceae family that is cultivated in Asia and Europe. The main isoquinoline alkaloid of Berberis, has several biological effects (Singh et al, 2011) with very low toxic and adverse reactions in human. Berberine was not used as therapeutic compounds due to its poor oral bioavailability which is lower than 1% (Liu et al, 2016). Berberine poor oral bioavailability returns to its low water solubility, low intestinal permeation, binding with P-glycoprotein (P-gp) pumps and high extraction and distribution in the liver (Imenshahidi and Hosseinzadeh, 2016), the uses of permeation enhancers, P-gp inhibitors and lipid micro-particle delivery system improved the berberine bioavailability (Liu et al, 2016). All reported researches measured the biological effects of B. vulgaris ethanolic extract which showed potent antioxidative capacity in vitro (Abd El-Wahab et al, 2013) and in vivo (Xu and Zhou, 2010). B. vulgaris ethanolic extract in vitro and in vivo anti-inflammatory activity was noted by the reduction of proinflammatory cytokines as well as acute phase proteins (Xie et al, 2013) where it decreased TNF-α, IL-6, IL-1β, matrix metalloprotease 9 (MMP9), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX2), inducible NOS (iNOS), monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1) and C-reactive protein (CRP) and haptoglobin (HP) (Choi et al, 2006)
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