acanthoic-acid and Chemical-and-Drug-Induced-Liver-Injury

The protective effect of a diterpenoid acanthoic acid (AA) isolated from Acanthopanax koreanum Nakai was investigated in acetaminophen (APAP)-induced hepatic toxicity. Drug-induced hepatotoxicity induced by an intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of 300mg/kg (sub-lethal dose) of APAP. Pretreatment with AA (50 and 100mg/kg) orally 2h before the APAP administration attenuated the APAP-induced acute increase in serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activites, replenished the depleted hepatic glutathione (GSH), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activities, decreased malondialdehyde (MDA) level and considerably reduced the histopathological alterations in a manner similar to silymarin (Sily). Immunohistochemical analyses also demonstrated that AA could reduce the appearance of necrosis regions as well as caspase-3 and hypoxia inducible factor-1alpha (HIF-1alpha) expression in liver tissue. Our results indicated that AA protected liver tissue from the oxidative stress elicites by APAP-induced liver damage and suggestes that the hepatic protection mechanism of AA would relate to antioxidation and hypoxia factor on APAP-induced hepatotoxicity.

Topics: Acetaminophen; Animals; Antioxidants; Caspase 3; Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury; Diterpenes; Eleutherococcus; Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit; Liver; Male; Malondialdehyde; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Necrosis; Oxidative Stress; Phytotherapy; Plant Bark; Plant Extracts; Plant Roots

The hepatoprotective effects of a diterpenoid acanthoic acid isolated from Acanthopanax koreanum NAKAI were evaluated in a D-galactosamine/lipopolysaccharide-induced fulminant hepatic failure mouse model. Mice were pretreated orally with acanthoic acid 12 and 1 h before intraperitoneal injection of D-galactosamine and lipopolysaccharide. Pretreatment with the compound markedly reduced lethal liver injury in experimental animals. The effects were likely associated with a significant decrease in serum tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha levels, which are correlated not only with those of alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase but also with the reduced number of apoptotic hepatocytes in the liver as confirmed using the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end-labeling method and DNA fragmentation assay. These results suggest that acanthoic acid protects against D-galactosamine/lipopolysaccharide-induced fulminant liver failure at least in part by a mechanism associated with the down-regulation of TNF-alpha secretion.

Topics: Alanine Transaminase; Animals; Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal; Aspartate Aminotransferases; Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury; Diterpenes; DNA Fragmentation; Eleutherococcus; Galactosamine; In Situ Nick-End Labeling; Lipopolysaccharides; Liver Failure, Acute; Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Plant Roots; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha

The aim of this study was to investigate the protective effect of acanthoic acid, a diterpene isolated from the root bark of Acanthopanax koreanum, on liver injury induced by either tert-butyl hydroperoxide (tBH) or carbon tetrachloride in vitro and in vivo. In vitro, the cellular leakage of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) following treatment with 1.5 mM tBH for 1 h, was significantly inhibited by co-treatment with acanthoic acid (25 and 5 microg/mL) and the ED (50) of acanthoic acid was 2.58 microg/mL (8.5 microM). The cellular leakage of LDH following one hour of treatment with 2.5 mM CCl (4) was significantly inhibited by co-treatment with acanthoic acid (25 microg/mL) and the ED (50) of acanthoic acid was 4.25 microg/mL (14.1 microM). Co-treatment with acanthoic acid significantly inhibited the generation of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and intracellular glutathione (GSH) depletion induced by tBH or CCl (4). Acanthoic acid pretreatment (100 mg/kg per day for four consecutive days, p. o.) significantly reduced levels of aspartate transaminase and alanine transaminase in acute liver injury models induced by either tBH or carbon tetrachloride. Treatment with acanthoic acid (100 mg/kg, p. o.) at 6, 24, and 48 hours after carbon tetrachloride subcutaneous injection significantly reduced the levels of aspartate transaminase and alanine transaminase in serum. Histological observations revealed that fatty acid changes, hepatocyte necrosis and inflammatory cell infiltration in CCl (4)-injured liver were improved upon treatment with acanthoic acid. In vivo treatment with acanthoic acid was not able to modify CYP2E1 activity and protein expression in liver microsomes at the dose used, showing that the hepatoprotective effect of acanthoic acid was not mediated through inhibition of CCl (4) bioactivation. From the results above, acanthoic acid had a protective effect against tBH- or CCl (4)-induced hepatotoxicity in vitro and in vivo.

Topics: Animals; Carbon Tetrachloride; Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury; Diterpenes; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Eleutherococcus; Hepatocytes; Male; Phytotherapy; Plant Extracts; Plant Roots; Protective Agents; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; tert-Butylhydroperoxide