chrysin and Liver-Cirrhosis

The incidence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), especially nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), has significantly increased in recent years and has become an important public health issue. However, no U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved first-line drug is currently available for the treatment of NAFLD and NASH; therefore, research on new drugs is currently a hot topic. Oroxylum indicum (Linn.) Kurz is extensively distributed in South China and South Asia and has many biological activities. However, its effects on NAFLD or even NASH and the corresponding mechanisms are still not clear.. To investigate the effect and mechanism of O. indicum seed extract (OISE) on preventing anti-inflammatory action in the progression from simple nonalcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) to NASH.. A network pharmacology method to construct ingredient-target networks and the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network of OISE in NASH were constructed for topological analyses and hub-target screening. Enrichment analyses were performed to identify the critical biological processes and signaling pathways. Simultaneously, in vitro and in vivo experiments investigated the effect and mechanism of OISE, baicalein, and chrysin on inflammation by biochemical indicator detection, luciferase reporters, pathological staining, and immunoblotting in oleic acid-stimulated HepG2 cells or in high-fat diet-fed rats.. The network pharmacology showed that OISE prevented the development and progression of NAFL into NASH through various pathways and targets and that the nuclear factor NF-κB (NF-κB) pathway regulated by baicalein and chrysin played an important role in the treatment of NASH. In in vitro experiments, we further showed that OISE and its ingredients, namely, baicalein and chrysin, all improved the inflammatory status in oleic acid-stimulated HepG2 cells, inhibited the nuclear transcriptional activities of NF-κB, increased the IκB level, and decreased the phosphorylation level of NF-κB. Furthermore, in a high-fat diet-induced NASH model in rats, we also showed that OISE prevented the development and progression of NASH by inhibiting the nuclear transcriptional activity of NF-κB.. OISE suppressed inflammatory responses and prevented the development and progression of NAFL into NASH through inhibition of the nuclear transcriptional activity of NF-κB. OISE may be used to treat NAFLD through many functions, including an increase in insulin sensitivity, a decrease in lipid accumulation in the liver, suppression of inflammation, and clearance of free radicals.

Topics: Animals; Bignoniaceae; Diet, High-Fat; Flavanones; Flavonoids; Hep G2 Cells; Humans; Lipid Metabolism; Liver Cirrhosis; Male; NF-kappa B; Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease; Oleic Acid; Plant Extracts; Protein Interaction Maps; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Seeds; Signal Transduction

We investigated the protective effect of chrysin on chronic liver fibrosis in mice and the potential mechanism underlying TGF-β1-mediated hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) activation on fibrogenesis. Experimental fibrosis was established by intraperitoneal injection of mice with 20% v/v, 2 ml/kg CCl4 twice a week, for 7 weeks. Mice were orally treated with 3 doses of chrysin (50, 100 and 200 mg/kg) or with vehicle as control. For the assessment of the spontaneous reversion of fibrosis, CCl4 treated animals were investigated after two weeks of recovery time. Silymarin was used as standard hepatoprotective flavonoid. Histopathological investigations showed that hepatic fibrosis grade was markedly reduced in the chrysin groups compared to the fibrotic one. Moreover, CCl4 activated HSCs induced an upregulation of smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), an increased number of TGF-β1 immunopositive cells and marked up-regulation of TGF-β1. α-SMA and TGF-β1 levels were significantly reduced in all chrysin treated groups in a dose-dependent manner, whereas the level of spontaneous reversal of fibrosis was lower compared to all flavonoid treated groups. Liver mRNA levels of Smad 2 in the 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg chrysin treated groups were significantly reduced by about 88.54%, 92.15% and 95.56% of the corresponding levels in the fibrosis mice group. The results were similar for mRNA levels of Smad 3. The protective response to silymarin was almost similar to that seen with the highest doses of chrysin. In this study, we have shown that chrysin has the efficacy to reverse CCl4-stimulated liver fibrosis by inhibition of HSCs activation and proliferation through TGF-β1/Smad pathway. These results suggest that chrysin may be useful in stopping or reversing the progression of liver fibrosis and might offer the possibility to develop a new therapeutic drug, useful in treatment of chronic liver diseases.

Topics: Animals; Flavonoids; Hepatic Stellate Cells; Immunohistochemistry; Liver Cirrhosis; Male; Mice; Protective Agents; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; Signal Transduction; Smad Proteins; Transforming Growth Factor beta