Hepatoprotective effect of morin on ethanol-induced hepatotoxicity in rats

The Role of Oxidative Stress in Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Preclinical Studies

Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (AFLD) is characterized by the accumulation of lipids in liver cells owing to the metabolism of ethanol. This process leads to a decrease in the NAD+/NADH ratio and the generation of reactive oxygen species. A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to investigate the role of oxidative stress in AFLD. A total of 201 eligible manuscripts were included, which revealed that animals with AFLD exhibited elevated expression of CYP2E1, decreased enzymatic activity of antioxidant enzymes, and reduced levels of the transcription factor Nrf2, which plays a pivotal role in the synthesis of antioxidant enzymes. Furthermore, animals with AFLD exhibited increased levels of lipid peroxidation markers and carbonylated proteins, collectively contributing to a weakened antioxidant defense and increased oxidative damage. The liver damage in AFLD was supported by significantly higher activity of alanine and aspartate aminotransferase enzymes. Moreover, animals with AFLD had increased levels of triacylglycerol in the serum and liver, likely due to reduced fatty acid metabolism caused by decreased PPAR-α expression, which is responsible for fatty acid oxidation, and increased expression of SREBP-1c, which is involved in fatty acid synthesis. With regard to inflammation, animals with AFLD exhibited elevated levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including TNF-a, IL-1β, and IL-6. The heightened oxidative stress, along with inflammation, led to an upregulation of cell death markers, such as caspase-3, and an increased Bax/Bcl-2 ratio. Overall, the findings of the review and meta-analysis indicate that ethanol metabolism reduces important markers of antioxidant defense while increasing inflammatory and apoptotic markers, thereby contributing to the development of AFLD.

Effect of syringic acid on steroid and gonadotropic hormones, hematological indices, sperm characteristics and morphologies, and markers of tissue damage in methyl cellosolve-administered rats

Methyl cellosolve (MTC) is an established gonadotoxic and hematotoxic compound that is commonly and universally utilized in herbicide, liquid soap, stain, dye, paint, and brake fluid manufacturing industries as a solvent. Due to its wide range usage, this study therefore investigated the effect of syringic acid (SYAC) on hematological indices, sperm characteristics and morphologies, and markers of tissue damage in MTC administered male Wistar rats. Thirty (30) rats divided into six groups were used. Rats in group 1 served as control, those in group 2 were administered MTC for 30 consecutive days, those in groups 3, 4, and 5 were treated with 25, 50, and 75 mg/kg body weight of SYAC respectively also for 30 consecutive days immediately after each day MTC administrations, while rats in group 6 received 75 mg/kg body weight of SYAC only throughout. Compared with control, administrations of MTC resulted in a significant decrease in spermatozoa count, number of normal and live spermatozoa, Hb count, MCH, MCHC, serum TC, and LH, while number of abnormal spermatozoa, RBC and WBC counts, activities of serum AST, ALT, GGT, LDH, and ADH were significantly increased. Treatments with 25 mg/kg of SYAC significantly reduced the RBC and WBC counts, serum activities of AST, ALT, GGT, and increased TC concentration. Treatments with 50 mg/kg SYAC significantly lowered the number of abnormal spermatozoa, RBC count, activities of serum ALT, AST, LDH, ADH, and increased the number of normal spermatozoa, MCV, MCH, and MCHC, while 75 mg/kg of SYAC significantly decreased the serum activities of AST, ALT, GGT, LDH, ADH, and increased serum TC concentration. Findings from this study have revealed the hepatoprotective effect of SYAC at all doses investigated but did not confer spermatoprotection and hematoprotection against MTC-induced toxicities, and looking at the 3 doses investigated, 50 mg/kg of SYAC yielded the best effect.

•

MTC significantly decreased live sperm, sperm count, MCH, MCHC, and Hb counts.

•

MTC significantly increased number of abnormal sperm, RBC and WBC counts.

•

MTC significantly increased serum activities of AST, ALT, GGT, LDH, and ADH.

•

SYAC significantly decreased RBC and WBC counts, AST, ALT, GGT, LDH, and ADH.

•

SYAC significantly increased number of normal sperm, MCV, MCH, and MCHC counts.

Morin encapsulated chitosan nanoparticles (MCNPs) ameliorate arsenic induced liver damage through improvement of the antioxidant system and prevention of apoptosis and inflammation in mice

Chronic exposure to arsenic over a period of time induces toxicity, primarily in the liver but gradually in all systems of the body. Morin hydrate (MH; 2',3,4',5,7-pentahydroxyflavone), a potent flavonoid abundantly present in plants of the Moraceae family, is thought to be a major bioactive compound that may be used to prevent a wide range of disease pathologies including hepatotoxicity. Therapeutic applications of morin (MOR) are however seriously constrained because of its insolubility, poor bioavailability, high metabolism and rapid elimination from the human body. Nanoformulation of MOR is a possible solution to these problems. In the present study we investigated the effectiveness of morin encapsulated chitosan nanoparticles (MCNPs) against arsenic induced liver damage in mice. MNCPs with an average diameter of 124.5 nm, a zeta potential of +16.2 mV and an encapsulation efficiency of 78% were prepared. Co-treatment of MOR and MCNPs by oral gavage on alternate days reduced the serum levels of AST, ALT, and ALP that were elevated in arsenic treated mice. The efficiency of MCNPs was found to be nearly 4 times higher than that of free MOR. Haematological and serum biochemical parameters including lipid profiles altered by arsenic were normalized following MCNP treatment. Arsenic deposition was lowered in the presence of MCNPs. Administration of MCNPs markedly inhibited ROS generation and elevated MDA levels in arsenic exposed mice. The level of hepatic antioxidant factors such as nuclear Nrf2 (Nrf2), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione (GSH), GSH peroxidase (GPx), glutathione-S-transferase (GST), heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), and NADPH quinone oxidoreductase 1(NQO1) were markedly enhanced in the arsenic + MCNP group. Treatment by MCNPs prevented the arsenic induced damage of tissue histology. Also, MCNPs suppressed the arsenic induced pro- and anti-apoptotic parameters and attenuated the level of inflammatory mediators. Our data suggest that MCNPs are good hepatoprotective agents compared to free morin against arsenic induced toxicity and the protective effect results from its strong antioxidant, antiapoptotic and anti-inflammatory properties.

Medicinal plants used against hepatic disorders in Bangladesh: A comprehensive review

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Liver disease is a major cause of illness and death worldwide which accounts for approximately 2 million deaths per year worldwide, 1 million due to complications of cirrhosis and 1 million due to viral hepatitis and hepatocellular carcinoma. That's why it is seeking the researchers' attention to find out the effective treatment strategies. Phytochemicals from natural resources are the main leads for the development of noble hepatoprotective drugs. The majority of the natural sources whose active compounds are currently employed actually have an ethnomedical use. Ethnopharmacological research is essential for the development of these bioactive compounds. These studies not only provide scientific evidence on medicinal plants utilized for particular therapeutic purposes, but they also ensure cultural heritage preservation. Plenty of experimental studies have been well-documented that the ethnomedicinal plants are of therapeutics' interest for the advanced pharmacological intervention in terms of hepatic disorders.

AIM OF THE STUDY

This study summarizes the processes of hepatotoxicity induced by various toxins and explores identified hepatoprotective plants and their phytoconstituents, which can guide the extraction of novel phytochemical constituents from plants to treat liver injury. This review aimed to summarize the hepatoprotective activity of Bangladeshi medicinal plants where the bioactive compounds may be leads for the drug discovery in future.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Literature searches in electronic databases, such as Web of Science, Science Direct, SpringerLink, PubMed, Google Scholar, Semantic Scholar, Scopus, BanglaJOL, and so on, were performed using the keywords 'Bangladesh', 'ethnomedicinal plants', 'Hepatoprotective agents' as for primary searches, and secondary search terms were used as follows, either alone or in combination: traditional medicine, medicinal plants, folk medicine, liver, hepatitis, therapeutic uses, and anti-inflammatory. Besides, several books, including the book entitled "Medicinal plants of Bangladesh: chemical constituents and uses" authored by Abdul Ghani, were carefully considered, which contained pharmacological properties and phytoconstituents of many medicinal plants growing and traditionally available in Bangladesh. Among them, the most promising plant species with their latest therapeutic effects against hepatic disorders were deeply considered in this review.

RESULTS

The results of this study revealed that in most cases, therapy using plant extracts stabilized altered hepatic biochemical markers induced by hepatotoxins. Initially, we investigated 32 plant species for hepatoprotective activity, however after extensive literature searching; we observed that 20 plants offer good pharmacological evidence of hepatoprotective function. Consequently, most bioactive compounds derived from the herbs including berberine, thymoquinone, andrographolide, ursolic acid, luteolin, naringenin, genistein, quercetin, troxerutin, morin, epigallocatechin-3-gallate, chlorogenic acid, emodin, curcumin, resveratrol, capsaicin, ellagic acid, etc. are appeared to be effective against hepatic disorders.

CONCLUSIONS

Flavonoids, phenolic acids, monoterpenoids, diterpenoids, triterpenoids, alkaloids, chromenes, capsaicinoids, curcuminoids, and anthraquinones are among the phytoconstituents were appraised to have hepatoprotective activities. All the actions displayed by these ethnomedicinal plants could make them serve as leads in the formulation of drugs with higher efficacy to treat hepatic disorders.

The protective effect of Morin against ifosfamide-induced acute liver injury in rats associated with the inhibition of DNA damage and apoptosis

Morin is a flavonoid and broadly found in white berry and cranberry branch. Ifosfamide (IFOS) is known as an anticancer and cytotoxic drug especially on the liver. This study aimed to explore the potential protective effects of Morin against IFOS-induced liver toxicity in rats. The model group of rats received a single injection of IFOS (500 mg/kg; i.p.) at day 2, whereas the protective groups of rats were given two different doses of Morin (100 and 200 mg/kg; given by gavage) at days 1 and 2. All animals were then culled 24 h post-IFOS injection. We observed that IFOS caused liver injury, oxidative stress, inflammation, DNA damage, and apoptosis. However, Morin decreased the levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (p < 0.05). While Morin contributed to the recovery of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), glutathione (GSH) levels, Morin decreased the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) induced by IFOS in the liver (p < 0.05). Besides, the levels of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and P53 measured by ELISA test were reduced via Morin administration (p < 0.05). Lastly, the mRNA transcript levels of Bax, Apaf-1, Bcl-2, Bcl-xL, and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) determined by RT-PCR were down-regulated in the Morin groups (p < 0.05). These results indicate that Morin plays a protective role by reducing oxidative stress, inflammation, and apoptosis in the IFOS-induced liver injury in rats.

Role of Natural Phenolics in Hepatoprotection: A Mechanistic Review and Analysis of Regulatory Network of Associated Genes

The liver is not only involved in metabolism and detoxification, but also participate in innate immune function and thus exposed to frequent target Thus, they are the frequent target of physical injury. Interestingly, liver has the unique ability to regenerate and completely recoup from most acute, non-iterative situation. However, multiple conditions, including viral hepatitis, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, long term alcohol abuse and chronic use of medications can cause persistent injury in which regenerative capacity eventually becomes dysfunctional resulting in hepatic scaring and cirrhosis. Despite the recent therapeutic advances and significant development of modern medicine, hepatic diseases remain a health problem worldwide. Thus, the search for the new therapeutic agents to treat liver disease is still in demand. Many synthetic drugs have been demonstrated to be strong radical scavengers, but they are also carcinogenic and cause liver damage. Present day various hepatic problems are encountered with number of synthetic and plant based drugs. Nexavar (sorafenib) is a chemotherapeutic medication used to treat advanced renal cell carcinoma associated with several side effects. There are a few effective varieties of herbal preparation like Liv-52, silymarin and Stronger neomin phages (SNMC) against hepatic complications. Plants are the huge repository of bioactive secondary metabolites viz; phenol, flavonoid, alkaloid etc. In this review we will try to present exclusive study on phenolics with its mode of action mitigating liver associated complications. And also its future prospects as new drug lead.

Morin enhances hepatic Nrf2 expression in a liver fibrosis rat model

AIM

To investigate whether morin can reduce hepatic fibrosis by activating the NF-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) signaling pathway.

METHODS

Twenty male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into four groups: control group, morin group, carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄) group, and morin + CCl₄ group. Rats in both the CCl₄ and morin + CCl₄ groups were injected intraperitoneally with CCl₄ at a dose of 2 mL/kg twice a week. Rats in both the morin and morin + CCl₄ groups were treated orally with morin at a dose of 50 mg/kg twice a week. Control rats were treated with vehicle only twice a week. At the end-point of the 8 wk of the experimental period, serum AST, ALT, and ALP were measured, and the liver specimens were obtained for pathological assessment. Real-time PCR and Western blot methods were used to analyze the expression of α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), collagen I, collagen III, Nrf2, heme oxygenase (HO-1), and quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) using frozen liver specimens.

RESULTS

Morin-treated rats in the morin + CCl₄ group had less hyperplasia of fiber tissue, minimal inflammatory cells, and less body weight loss with favorable liver enzyme measurements compared to rats treated with CCl₄ only. Additionally, morin-treated rats had significantly lower mRNA and protein expression of α-SMA, collagen I, and collagen III, but significantly higher mRNA and protein expression of Nrf2, HO-1, and NQO1 compared to rats treated with CCl₄ only (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Morin could play a protective role by inducing the expression of Nrf2 and its downstream antioxidant factors (HO-1 and NQO1) and reducing the expression of α-SMA, collagen I, and collagen III in CCl₄-induced liver fibrosis rats.

Therapeutic potential of morin against liver fibrosis in rats: modulation of oxidative stress, cytokine production and nuclear factor kappa B

Therapeutic potential of morin, a member of flavonoid family, against carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced liver fibrosis in rats was investigated and compared with that of silymarin. Results show that treatment with morin (30 mg/kg/day) revealed attenuation in liver index and serum biomarkers of liver function that were enhanced by chronic CCl4 intoxication. Further, morin inhibited the elevated levels of malondialdehyde and nitric oxide and restored hepatic reduced glutathione to its normal level. The increased production of hepatic hydroxyproline content by CCl4 was markedly decreased by administration of morin. In addition, treatment with morin significantly attenuated the inflammatory responses caused by CCl4 as evident by the decreased hepatic tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) level, immunohistochemical expressions of inducible nitric oxide synthase and nuclear factor kappa B. Collectively, this study indicates that morin possesses antifibrotic effect in the CCl4 model of fibrosis via reducing oxidative stress, inflammatory responses and fibrogenic markers.

Ascorbic acid is superior to silymarin in the recovery of ethanol-induced inflammatory reactions in hepatocytes of guinea pigs

Both oxidative stress and inflammatory reactions play a major role in alcoholic liver fibrosis. We evaluated the efficacy of ascorbic acid (AA) and silymarin in the regression of alcohol-induced inflammation in hepatocytes of guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus). Animals were administered with ethanol at a daily dose of 4 g/kg body weight (b.wt) for 90 days. On the ninety-first day, ethanol administration was stopped and animals were divided into alcohol abstention group and silymarin- (25 mg/100 g b.wt) and AA- (25 mg/100 g b.wt) supplemented groups and maintained for 30 days. There was a significant increase in the activities of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and γ-glutamyl transpeptidase in the serum of the ethanol group. The intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and expressions of cytochrome P4502E1 and nuclear factor κB1, tumor necrosis factor-α, and transforming growth factor-β(1) in hepatocytes were significantly increased in ethanol group. The fibrotic markers α-smooth muscle actin and α(1)(I) collagen and activity of cytotoxicity marker caspase-3 were significantly increased and AA content was significantly reduced in hepatocytes of alcohol-treated guinea pigs. But the AA and silymarin supplementation significantly reduced these changes in comparison with alcohol abstention group. AA could induce greater reduction of inflammatory and fibrotic markers in hepatocytes than silymarin. This indicates that AA is superior to silymarin in inhibiting intracellular ROS generation and thereby reducing the ethanol-induced inflammation in hepatocytes.