Abstract
BackgroundOur previous study suggested that licorice has anti-inflammatory activity in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated microglial cells and anti-oxidative activity in tert-butyl hydroperoxide–induced oxidative liver damage. In this study, we evaluated the effect of licorice on chronic alcohol-induced fatty liver injury mediated by inflammation and oxidative stress.MethodsRaw licorice was extracted, and quantitative and qualitative analysis of its components was performed by using LC–MS/MS. Mice were fed a liquid alcohol diet with or without licorice for 4 weeks.ResultsWe have standardized 70 % fermented ethanol extracted licorice and confirmed by LC-MS/MS as glycyrrhizic acid (GA), 15.77 ± 0.34 μg/mg; liquiritin (LQ), 14.55 ± 0.42 μg/mg; and liquiritigenin (LG), 1.34 ± 0.02 μg/mg, respectively. Alcohol consumption increased serum alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase activities and the levels of triglycerides and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α. Lipid accumulation in the liver was also markedly induced, whereas the glutathione level was reduced. All these alcohol-induced changes were effectively inhibited by licorice treatment. In particular, the hepatic glutathione level was restored and alcohol-induced TNF-α production was significantly inhibited by licorice.ConclusionTaken together, our data suggests that protective effect of licorice against alcohol-induced liver injury may be attributed to its anti-inflammatory activity and enhancement of antioxidant defense.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12906-016-0997-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Our previous study suggested that licorice has anti-inflammatory activity in lipopolysaccharidestimulated microglial cells and anti-oxidative activity in tert-butyl hydroperoxide–induced oxidative liver damage
It was of interest to examine the effects of licorice on chronic alcohol-induced fatty liver, which is more relevant to clinical situations
We examined the preventive effect of licorice in alcoholic fatty liver by administering its extract to mice exposed to alcohol for 4 weeks
Summary
Our previous study suggested that licorice has anti-inflammatory activity in lipopolysaccharidestimulated microglial cells and anti-oxidative activity in tert-butyl hydroperoxide–induced oxidative liver damage. We evaluated the effect of licorice on chronic alcohol-induced fatty liver injury mediated by inflammation and oxidative stress. Recent studies on hepatoprotective effects of licorice suggest that it can reduce liver injury by enhancing antioxidant and anti-. Alcohol-induced fatty liver is widely considered to be benign and to have a very low risk of progression, clinical studies have provided evidence that it is an important pathogenic factor in the development of liver disease [13,14,15]. We reported that licorice extract had an anti-inflammatory effect in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated microglial cells and acted as an antioxidant in a tert-butyl hydroperoxide–induced oxidative liver injury model [16]. It was of interest to examine the effects of licorice on chronic alcohol-induced fatty liver, which is more relevant to clinical situations. We examined the preventive effect of licorice in alcoholic fatty liver by administering its extract to mice exposed to alcohol for 4 weeks
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