Hepatoprotective effect of Trigonella foenum graecum against ethanol-induced cell death in human liver cells (HepG2 and Huh7)

Mitigating Metabolic Dysfunction-associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD): The Role of Bioactive Phytoconstituents in Indian Culinary Spices

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

The term metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) refers to a group of progressive steatotic liver conditions that include metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), which has varying degrees of liver fibrosis and may advance to cirrhosis, and independent hepatic steatosis. MASLD has a complex underlying mechanism, with patients exhibiting diverse causes and phases of the disease. India has a pool prevalence of MASLD of 38.6% in adults. In 2023, the term NAFLD has been redefined and changed to MASLD. Currently, there are no drugs approved by the FDA for the treatment of MASLD. This study investigates the potential of bioactive phytoconstituents present in spices as a therapeutic approach for MASLD. Moreover, it offers comprehensive data on several pre-clinical studies of bioactive phytoconstituents derived from spices that primarily focus on treating obesity-associated MASLD.

RECENT FINDINGS

Spices include a high amount of bioactive chemicals and several research have indicated their diverse pharmacological activities. Bioactive phytoconstituents from common Indian spices like cinnamic acid, eugenol, curcumin, allicin, 6-gingerols, capsaicin, piperine, eucalyptol, trigonelline, and linalool have been reported to exhibit anti-MASLD effects both in-vivo and in-vitro. Bioactive phytoconstituents from different culinary species of India have shown promising potential against MASLD in pre-clinical status. Further clinical studies on a large scale would be beneficial for paving the path to the development of a new drug which is the need of time.

Hepatoprotective effect of date fruit extract against ethanol-induced apoptosis in human hepatoma (HepG2) cells

Ethanol is a well-known hepatotoxic agent and date fruits have been associated with their biological actions. In current study, we have investigated the hepatoprotective potential of DFE on ethanol-induced cellular damages in human hepatoma (HepG2) cells. The hepatoprotective potential was assessed by exposing the HepG2 cells to non-toxic concentrations (15, 30, and 60 μg/mL) of DFE for 24 h; then toxic concentration (500 μM) of ethanol. Our results demonstrated that pretreatment with DFE significantly prohibited ethanol-induced hepatotoxicity in HepG2 cells. We observed that DFE treatment increased cell viability, reduced LDH leakage, restored cellular morphology, and inhibited caspase-3 enzyme activity in a dose dependent way, induced by ethanol. Further DFE was also effective in restoring the LPO, GSH, and catalase levels towards normal altered by ethanol. Our results also revealed that ethanol-induced ROS generation was significantly inhibited by DFE. The ethanol-induced mRNA expression of apoptotic related genes (p53, caspase-3, caspase-7, Bax, and Bcl-2) were also normalized by pretreatment with DFE. The findings from this study indicated that DFE can significantly protect HepG2 cells against ethanol-induced hepatotoxicity. Our study also provides scientific validation for the traditional use of DFE, aiming to understand its hepatoprotective potential. Altogether, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first study demonstrated that ethanol-induced hepatotoxicity can be prohibited by the DFE. Thus, DFE has a potential application in nutraceuticals as a therapeutic agent to prevent liver diseases.

Plant-based foods and hepatocellular carcinoma: A review on mechanistic understanding

Regardless of etiology, hepatocarcinogenesis is frequently preceded by a distinctive sequence of chronic necroinflammation, compensatory hepatic regeneration, development of hepatic fibrosis, and ultimately cirrhosis. The liver being central immunomodulators, closely maintains immunotolerance. Any dysregulation in this management of immunotolerance is a hallmark of chronic hepatic disease and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Apart from other malignancies, hepatocellular carcinoma accounts for 90% of liver cancers. Several emerging evidences have recognized diet as lifestyle associated risk factor in HCC development. However, natural compounds have the potential to fight hepatoma aggressiveness via inhibition of cellular proliferation and modulation of oncogenic pathways. This review aimed to identify the several plant-based foods for their protective role in HCC prevention by understating the molecular mechanisms involved in inhibition of progression and proliferation of cancer. Information from relevant publications in which several plant-based foods demonstrated protective potential against HCC has been integrated as well as evaluated. For data integration, Science direct, Google scholar, and Scopus websites were used. Nutrition-based approaches in the deterrence of several cancers offer a substantial benefit to currently used medical therapies and should be implemented more often as an adjunct to first-line medical therapy. Furthermore, the inclusion of these plant-based foods (vegetables, fruits, herbs, and spices) may improve general health and decline cancer incidence.