Extraction, identification, fractionation and isolation of phenolic compounds in plants with hepatoprotective effects

Abstract

The liver is one of the most important organs of human body, being involved in several vital functions and regulation of physiological processes. Given its pivotal role in the excretion of waste metabolites and drugs detoxification, the liver is often subjected to oxidative stress that leads to lipid peroxidation and severe cellular damage. The conventional treatments of liver diseases such as cirrhosis, fatty liver and chronic hepatitis are frequently inadequate due to side effects caused by hepatotoxic chemical drugs. To overcome this problematic paradox, medicinal plants, owing to their natural richness in phenolic compounds, have been intensively exploited concerning their extracts and fraction composition in order to find bioactive compounds that could be isolated and applied in the treatment of liver ailments. The present review aimed to collect the main results of recent studies carried out in this field and systematize the information for a better understanding of the hepatoprotective capacity of medicinal plants in in vitro and in vivo systems. Generally, the assessed plant extracts revealed good hepatoprotective properties, justifying the fractionation and further isolation of phenolic compounds from different parts of the plant. Twenty-five phenolic compounds, including flavonoids, lignan compounds, phenolic acids and other phenolic compounds, have been isolated and identified, and proved to be effective in the prevention and/or treatment of chemically induced liver damage. In this perspective, the use of medicinal plant extracts, fractions and phenolic compounds seems to be a promising strategy to avoid side effects caused by hepatotoxic chemicals.

Antioxidants Bound to an Insoluble Food Matrix: Their Analysis, Regeneration Behavior, and Physiological Importance

“…Phenolic compounds are the most numerous and ubiquitous group of plant secondary metabolites, mostly located in plant leaves, seeds, bark, and flowers, with more than 8000 phenolic structures currently known (Pereira and others ). Phenolic antioxidants delay or inhibit oxidation processes as free‐radical terminators or metal chelators, and thereby provide potential health benefits (Shahidi and Ambigaipalan ).…”

Hepatoprotective properties of Dandelion: recent update

“…Other terpene/sterol compounds include beta-amyrin, taraxasterol, and taraxerol, as well as free sterols (sitosterin, stigmasterin, and phytosterin) structurally related to bile (Koo et al, 2004;Schütz et al, 2006). Presence of these biologically active principles in the TO extract have been attributed for its beneficial effects.…”

“…To overcome this problem, current research focused on drugs derived from medicinal plants, due to their richness in flavonoid and ployphenolic compounds have been extensively studied against various drug and chemical induced . Email: ezhild@gmail.com hepatotoxicity in vivo and in vitro and it is need of the hour (Pereira et al, 2015). There are several plant derived agents have shown promising hepatoprotective properties i.e., dandelion, silymarin, silibinin, curcumin, berberin, resveratrol (Ezhilarasan et al, 2014;Ezhilarasan et al, 2012).…”

Transgenesis as a Tool for the Efficient Production of Selected Secondary Metabolites from Plant in Vitro Cultures

“…Secondary metabolites can affect cancer cells by interfering with their division, and by changing their metabolism and even the expression of selected genes. Many also have antioxidant [15,16], anti-inflammatory [17,18], antibacterial [19], antifungal [20,21], neurological [22] or hepatoprotective [23] effects. As plants represent such an important source of many secondary metabolites, there is great interest in increasing their biosynthetic rates as part of green biotechnology, which includes the use of transgenic plants or other photosynthetic organisms for industrial purposes.…”