Biological analysis of herbal medicines used for the treatment of liver diseases

Abstract

Herbal medicines have been used to treat liver disorders for thousands of years in the East and have now become a promising therapy internationally for pathological liver conditions. Biological analysis of hepatoprotective herbs is an important issue from the pharmacokinetic perspective in developing new therapeutic managements for liver disease. The biological analysis focuses on the pretreatment methods, separation and quantification of herbal medicines in biological samples. We have compiled and discuss the biological analytical method of six herbal medicines for liver protection containing Silybum marianum(silymarin), Glycyrrhiza glabra, Scutellaria baicalensis, Schisandra chinensis, Salvia miltiorrhiza and Astragalus membranaceus. This review provides a convenient reference for researchers to reduce time-consuming method optimization.

Inhibitory effects of Scutellaria baicalensis extract on hepatic stellate cells through inducing G2/M cell cycle arrest and activating ERK-dependent apoptosis via Bax and caspase pathway

“…Traditional Chinese herbs have characteristics of multiingredient, multi-target, and low adverse effects for treating chronic liver diseases (Chien et al, 2011). Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi (Scutellaria baicalensis; Huangqin in Chinese) is one of the most widely used traditional Chinese medicines (Tang and Eisenbrand, 1992).…”

Schisandra chinensis fruit extract attenuates albuminuria and protects podocyte integrity in a mouse model of streptozotocin-induced diabetic nephropathy

“…The majority of research on Schisandra chinensis has focused on its effects of anti-inflammation and antioxidative stress injuries (Konishi, 2009;Chien et al, 2011). There Fig.…”

SHSST Cyclodextrin Complex Prevents the Fibrosis Effect on CCl4-Induced Cirrhotic Cardiomyopathy in Rats through TGF-β Pathway Inhibition Effects

“…In the therapeutic strategy for fibrogenesis prevention, TGF-β signaling should also be reduced using any treatment for CCM patients [14–16]. Here, silymarin and a traditional Chinese herbal medicine formula (San Huang Shel Shin Tang, SHSST) and its water-soluble beta-cyclodextrin (β-CD) complex modification compound (SHSSTc) were used in treating CCM rats, which were induced from carbon tetrachloride (CCl 4 ) intraperitoneal (IP) injection induced cirrhosis model [17–19]. Silymarin is a well known drug against cirrhosis and is a cocktail-like herbal liver-protective drug with four flavonolignan isomers, silybin, silychristin, silydianin and isosilybin [20,21].…”

“…Both SHSST and silymarin are potential liver protection drugs, but both present poor water solubility and poor bioavailability [17]. A formulation approach is necessary to increase the solubility of these liver protection drugs.…”