Evaluation of the Antioxidant Effects of Berberine against Sodium Nitriteinduced Oxidative Injury in the Rat Liver

Abstract

background: Berberine is a plant alkaloid present in many plants. It has diverse curative effects including anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. The current study aimed to evaluate the protective activity of berberine and investigate its probable mechanisms against sodium nitrite toxicity in liver. method: Forty male rats were divided into five groups. Group one as the control group received normal saline, group two received berberine (100 mg kg-1) and group three received sodium nitrite (80 mg kg-1). Groups four and five received berberine in doses of 50 and 100 mg/Kg, respectively and sodium nitrite (80 mg kg-1) was given orally. All the doses were orally administrated for two months. Then At the end of 60th day, the animals were sacrificed, and liver homogenate, were prepared. For evaluating oxidative injury, the levels of albumin (ALB) and aspartate transaminase (AST) in serum and oxidative stress parameters in liver were analyzed. result: Treatment of rats with sodium nitrite, considerably increased the levels of serum AST, and liver superoxide anion as well as significantly reduced the levels of serum ALB, superoxide dismutase (SOD), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), and catalase (CAT) activity in liver tissue. Berberine treatment could ameliorate all these parameters dose dependently. Berberine at dose of 100 mg/kg had the best impact and reached the values of oxidative stress parameters to the normal level. conclusion: Our results clearly demonstrated that berberine in a dose dependent manner offers protection against sodium nitrite-induced oxidative injury, which possibly reflects the antioxidant abilities of this alkaloid.

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“…Among the metabolites screened by DDL, Berberine was the most abundant. Berberine has been found to have significant antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects (Sadeghi et al, 2024), as well as antioxidant and lipid metabolism regulation (Akhzari et al, 2024). Most botanical drugs that are included in this formula are rich in flavonoids (Sun et al, 2023), examples include Forsythoside, Catechin, Paeoniflorin and Luteoloside, among many other metabolites, which are a large class of plant-derived metabolites that perform multiple biological functions; flavonoids exert therapeutic effects on skin diseases and have strong antioxidant effects (Carvalho et al, 2021).…”