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Hepatoprotective effects ofArctium lappa linne on liver injuries induced by chronic ethanol consumption and potentiated by carbon tetrachloride

  • Original Paper
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Journal of Biomedical Science

Abstract

Arctium lappa Linne (burdock) is a perennial herb which is popularly cultivated as a vegetable. In order to evaluate its hepatoprotective effects, a group of rats (n=10) was fed a liquid ethanol diet (4 g of absolute ethanol/80 ml of liquid basal diet) for 28 days and another group (n=10) received a single intraperitoneal injection of 0.5 ml/kg carbon tetrachloride (CCI4) in order to potentiate the liver damage on the 21st day (1 day before the beginning ofA. lappa treatment). Control group rats were given a liquid basal diet which did not contain absolute ethanol. When 300 mg/kgA. lappa was administered orally 3 times per day in both the 1-day and 7-day treatment groups, some biochemical and histopathological parameters were significantly altered, both in the ethanol group and the groups receiving ethanol supplemented with CCI4.A. lappa significantly improved various pathological and biochemical parameters which were worsened by ethanol plus CCI4-induced liver damage, such as the ethanol plus CCI4-induced decreases in total cytochrome P-450 content and NADPH-cytochrome c reductase activity, increases in serum triglyceride levels and lipid peroxidation (the deleterious peroxidative and toxic malondialdehyde metabolite may be produced in quantity) and elevation of serum transaminase levels. It could even restore the glutathione content and affect the histopathological lesions. These results tended to imply that the hepatotoxicity induced by ethanol and potentiated by CCI4 could be alleviated with 1 and 7 days ofA. lappa treatment. The hepatoprotective mechanism ofA. lappa could be attributed, at least in part, to its antioxidative activity, which decreases the oxidative stress of hepatocytes, or to other unknown protective mechanism(s).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacology, Taipei Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC

    Song-Chow Lin, I-Cheng Chen & Li-Ya Wang

  2. Department of Pathology, Taipei Medical University, Taipei

    Yun-Ho Lin

  3. Pharmacological Institute, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taiwan, ROC

    Chia-Hsien Lin

  4. Department of Experimental Diagnosis, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei

    Chin-Fa Chen

  5. School of Pharmacy Kaohsiung Medical University, 807, Kaohsiung, Taiwan (ROC)

    Chun-Ching Lin PhD

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  1. Song-Chow Lin
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Lin, SC., Lin, CH., Lin, CC. et al. Hepatoprotective effects ofArctium lappa linne on liver injuries induced by chronic ethanol consumption and potentiated by carbon tetrachloride. J Biomed Sci 9, 401–409 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02256533

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02256533

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