Hepatoprotective activity of picroliv, the active principle of Picrorhiza kurrooa, on rat hepatocytes against paracetamol toxicity

Abstract

Visen, P.K.S., B. Shukla, G.K. Patnaik, S. Kaul, N.K. Kapoor, and B.N. Dhawan: Hepatoprotective activity of picroliv, the active principle of Picrorhiza kurrooa, on rat hepatocytes against paracetamol toxicity. Drug Dev. Res. 22:209-219, 1991. Picroliv, the active principle an iridoid glycoside mixture isolated from the plant Picrorhiza kurrooa, showed dose-dependent (0.75-1 2 mg/kg x 7 days) protective activity on isolated hepatocytes (ex vivo) against paracetamol-induced hepatic damage in rats. It increased the percent viability of the hepatocytes. Picroliv also restored the normal values of enzyme (glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase [GOT], glutamic-pyruvic transaminase [GPT], and alkaline phosphatase) both in the isolated hepatocyte suspension as well as in the serum. Picroliv was found to be more potent than silymarin, a known hepatoprotective agent.

Hepatoprotective effect of picroliv against rifampicin-induced toxicity

“…Picroliv treatment increases the viability of hepatocytes, suggesting the stabilizing action on hepatic cell membrane by promoting the repair of injured tissues. Picroliv thus showed significant and dose-dependent activity as described earlier in other hepatotoxic models [Visen et al, 1991;Shukla et al, 1992;Dwivedi et al, 1991]. As evidenced by the ED 50 values, picroliv showed a higher hepatoprotective activity than silymarin.…”

“…Isolation of hepatocytes was carried out 24 h post-treatment with rifampicin. The method of Seglen [1975] was followed with slight modification [Visen et al, 1991] for the isolation of hepatocytes by continuously recirculating enzymic perfusion of the liver in situ.…”

“…It is a mixture of iridoid glycosides. Experimentally picroliv has shown marked liver protective activity against a wide variety of hepatotoxins [Dwivedi et al, 1991;Tripathi et al, 1991;Saraswat et al, 1993;Visen et al, 1991;Saksena et al, 1994;Dhawan, 1995]. Rifampicin is an antibiotic widely used in the treatment of tuberculosis and leprosy.…”

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“…The isolation of rat hepatocytes and ex vivo studies were performed with slight modification of a previously reported process 21 . The abdomen of the rat was opened under ether anesthesia and heparin (50 units in 0.1 ml) was injected into the heart to prevent blood coagulation.…”

Preliminary study on the central nervous system depressant effect of Picrorhiza kurrooa Royle. (Scrophulariaceae) in mice models

“…The plant is well-known in the Ayurveda and has traditionally been used to treat disorders of the liver and upper respiratory tract (Jadhav and Pal, 2005). There are numerous reports about the hepatoprotective activity of Picrorhiza kurrooa and its constituensts kutkin and picroliv (Ansari et al, 1988;Ansari et al, 1991;Visen et al, 1991;Visen et al, 1996;Santra et al, 1998). In addition, the plant and its constituents showed anticholestatic (Saraswat et al, 1993), antioxidant (Govindarajan et al, 2003;Vijayakumar et al, 2005), anti-inflammatory (Singh et al, 1993), cyclooxygenase-2 enzyme inhibitory (Zhang et al, 2005), hypolipidemic (Khanna et al, 1994), and immunomodulatory activities (Wang and Pang, 2002;Vijayakumar et al, 2005).…”