Hepatotoxic Components Research Articles

Recurrent Toxic Hepatitis in a Caucasian Girl Related to the Use of Shou‐Wu‐Pian, a Chinese Herbal Preparation

Recurrent Toxic Hepatitis in a Caucasian Girl Related to the Use of Shou‐Wu‐Pian, a Chinese Herbal Preparation

Hepatotoxicity of NONI juice: Report of two cases

NONI juice (Morinda citrifolia) is an increasingly popular wellness drink claimed to be beneficial for many illnesses. No overt toxicity has been reported to date. We present two cases of novel hepatotoxicity of NONI juice. Causality of liver injury by NONI juice was asses-sed. Routine laboratory tests and transjugular or percutaneous liver biopsy were performed. The first patient underwent successful liver transplantation while the second patient recovered spontaneously after cessation of NONI juice. A 29-year-old man with previous toxic hepatitis associated with small doses of paracetamol developed sub-acute hepatic failure following consumption of 1.5 L NONI juice over 3 wk necessitating urgent liver transplantation. A 62-year-old woman without evidence of previous liver disease developed an episode of self-limited acute hepatitis following consumption of 2 L NONI juice for over 3 mo. The most likely hepatotoxic components of Morinda citrifolia were anthraquinones. Physicians should be aware of potential hepatotoxicity of NONI juice.

EFFECTS OF TAURAIN (T) AND URSODEOXYCHOLIC ACID (UDCA) ON LIVER FUNCTION TESTS IN PATIENTS WITH CYSTIC FIBROSIS

Patients with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) often develop liver disease and although the mechanism leading to the pathognomonic lesion (focal biliary cirrhosis) is still unknown, quantitative/qualitative alterations in bile secretion may of of major importance. Correction of the complex abnormalities of bile acid (BA) metabolism described in these patients, (BA malabsorption with predominance of relatively more hydrophobic glycine-conjugated BA), may thus slow the progress of liver involvement associated to CF. Recently, a shift of the BA pool composition towards more hydrophilic-less hepatotoxic components, induced by UDCA and, in one report, by T administration, has been shown to be beneficial in adults with Primary Biliary Cirrhosis and Chronic Hepatitis. In 6 CF patients (aged 8-12 years) with clinical and biochemical signs of liver involvement but no portal hypertension, T (30 mg/Kg/die) was administered one month before and during the successive treatment with UDCA (10-15 mg/Kg/die). Liver functin tests were determined before and during each period of treatment, fecal fat and BA (GLC) exretion and biliary BA composition (HPLC) before and after long term administration of UDCA and T. Before treatment, both mean coefficient of fat absorption n enzymatic therapy (83.7 ± 10%) and fecal BA excretion (12.3± 5.9 mg/Kg/die) were abnormal. Chenodeoxycholic acid was predominant among biliary BA (44.1 ± 9.1%) and the glycine to taurine conjugate ratio was 2.7 ± 2.0. T administration produced only inconsistent changes of lvier function tests from basal abnormal values, whereas in patients treated fo two months with T + UDCA a substantial improvement was observed: AST -28%, ALT -40%. GT -33%, Alkaline Phosphatase -19%. The effects of longer periods of treatment are currently investigated, with purpose of establishing their relationship with changes in the BA pool composition.

Effect of acetaminophen (paracetamol) and its antagonists on glutathione (GSH) content in rat liver

Herbal medicines and dietary supplements are widely used worldwide. However, reports have revealed that a large number of herbal medicines are implicated in the hepatic damage, which is referred to as Herbal medicines-induced liver injury (HILI). Traditional diagnostic methods for HILI include histological and serological assessments, which fail to offer real-time and unambiguous visualization of hepatotoxicity in vivo. Herein, we constructed a second near-infrared (NIR-II) luminescent nanoprobes to achieve accurate, high-efficiency, and non-invasive detection of HILI by the assembly of lanthanide-based NIR-II luminescence nanoparticles with a chromophore with absorption band in the NIR-II region. Specifically, the NIR-II luminescence of the lanthanide nanoparticles can be effectively quenched by the chromophores on the surface of nanoparticles via an absorption competition-induced quenching effect, and subsequently recovered by the pathophysiological biomarker peroxynitrite (ONOO−) generated in early HILI. It is demonstrated that the nanoprobes are capable for the screening of liver toxins in a noninvasive pattern, which is more convenient than the conventional diagnostic approaches. Finally, our luminescence detection approach offers an immediate testing technique for the identification of hepatotoxic components of herbal medicine such as colchicine, monocrotaline and stibene glucoside, providing a high-throughput screening strategy for herbal medicine-induced hepatotoxicity.