BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVESThis study investigated the antioxidant activities and hepatoprotective effects of Schisandra chinensis Baillon extract (SCE) against tert-butyl hydroperoxide (t-BHP)-induced oxidative hepatic damage in rats.MATERIALS/METHODSSprague-Dawley (SD) rats were pretreated with SCE (300, 600, and 1,200 mg/kg BW) or saline once daily for 14 consecutive days. On day 14, each animal, except those belonging to the normal control group, were injected with t-BHP (0.8 mmol/kg BW/i.p.), and all of the rats were sacrificed 16 h after t-BHP injection.RESULTSAlthough no significant differences in AST and ALT levels were observed among the TC and SCE groups, the high-dose SCE group showed a decreasing tendency compared to the TC group. However, erythrocyte SOD activity showed a significant increase in the low-dose SCE group compared with the TC group. On the other hand, no significant differences in hepatic total glutathione (GSH) level, glutathione reductase (GR), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activities were observed among the TC and SCE groups. Hepatic histopathological evaluation revealed that pretreatment with SCE resulted in reduced t-BHP-induced incidence of lesions, such as neutrophil infiltration, swelling of liver cells, and necrosis. In particular, treatment with a high dose of SCE resulted in induction of phase II antioxidant/detoxifying enzyme expression, such as glutathione S-transferase (GST) and glutamate-cysteine ligase catalytic subunit (GCLC).CONCLUSIONSBased on these results, we conclude that SCE exerts protective effects against t-BHP induced oxidative hepatic damage through the reduction of neutrophil infiltration, swelling of liver cells, and necrosis. In addition, SCE regulates the gene expression of phase II antioxidant/detoxifying enzymes independent of hepatic antioxidant enzyme activity.

Taken together, the present findings suggest that PV and its fractions hold great promise as natural remedies with anti-inflammatory activities that alleviate alcohol-induced liver damage.

Our previous study has shown that persimmon vinegar (PV) had more potent effects on the prevention of the alcohol‐induced liver damage in vivo than any other vinegars tested. Here, we investigated the efficacy of PV and its fractions on hepatic immune response and alcohol metabolism in chronically alcohol drinking rats. Forty male Wistar rats were divided to 5 groups and fed each diet for 4 weeks; normal control, ethanol control (EC), PV, high molecular weight fraction (HPV), and low molecular weight fraction (LPV) group. Hepatic mRNA expressions of Interlekin‐1β, Interlekin‐12β, Toll‐like receptor 4 ,cyclooxygenase‐2 and protein expression of CYP2E1 were significantly decreased in PV, HPV and LPV compared to EC. (p=0.0076,p=0.0009, p=0.0142, p=0.0003, and p=0.0438, respectively). However, there was no significant difference among all treatment groups for all biomarkers with an exception of CYP2E1. The PV had significantly higher potency in suppressing CYP2E1 protein expression than the others. Taken together, the results of this study support the previous observations on the protective effect of PV against alcohol‐induced liver damage. Our findings also suggest that the effect of PV might be caused by more than two components, which are different with their molecular weight range. Grant Funding Source: This study was supported by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology (Brain Korea 21 PLUS: