Picroliv Affords Protection Against Thioacetamide-Induced Hepatic Damage in Rats¹

Abstract

Thioacetamide (100 mg/kg), when administered to normal rats, caused a significant increase in the activities of 5'-nucleotidase and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase and a decrease in the activities of glucose 6-phosphatase and succinate dehydrogenase enzymes in the liver. DNA, RNA, and proteins were increased while the cytochrome P450 in the microsomal fraction and the glycogen content in the liver were decreased significantly. Elevations in the activities of GOT, GPT, and alkaline phosphatase and bilirubin content in serum were also observed. Picroliv, a standardised glycoside fraction of Picrorhiza kurroa, in doses of 12.5 and 25 mg/kg prevented most of the biochemical changes induced by thioacetamide in liver and serum. The hepatoprotective activity of Picroliv was comparable with that of silymarin, a known hepatoprotective agent obtained from seeds of Silybum marianum.

Inhibition by Picrorrhiza kurroa Extract of Oxygen Free Radical Reactions and Hepatic Fibrosis in Rats.

“…This study is an extension of the studies on the hepatoprotective activity of P. kurroa and its active fraction Picroliv, which has been reported by several workers (5)(6)(7)(8)(9). Most of these studies made use of acute hepatotoxins, which produce extensive damage to the tissue.…”

“…The ethanolic extract of Picrorrhiza kurroa [5][6][7] as well as its standardized fraction Picroliv, containing at least 60% of 1:1.5 mixture of Picroside I and Kutkoside, have been shown to protect against CC14-, ethanol-, paracetamol-, thioacetamide-, aflatoxin-, and chlopromazineinduced liver damage in rats [8][9][10]. Most of the parameters were evaluated after acute administration of hepatotoxins, which produces extensive tissue damage.…”

Effect of Picroliv on impaired hepatic mixed-function oxidase system in carbon tetrachloride-intoxicated rats

“…Picroliv contains mainly (60%) two iridoid glycosides: Picroside I and Kutkoside in a ratio of 1 : 1.5, along with several other uncharacterized glycosides as minor constituents. Earlier we reported the protective activity of Picroliv in several hepatotoxic models Dwivedi et al, 1990;1991a,b, 1992a,b, 1993Saksena et al, 1994;Rastogi et al, 1995Rastogi et al, , 1996. From these studies, it was evident that hepatoprotective activity of Picroliv was due to a combination of several actions, such as hypolipidemic activity [Khanna et al, 1994], antioxidant activity [Rastogi et al, 1995], stabilization of membranes [Dwivedi et al, 1992b], and effects on protein biosynthesis, affecting the levels of DNA, RNA, and proteins [Dwivedi et al, 1991a[Dwivedi et al, ,b, 1993.…”

Biochemical Changes Induced in Liver and Serum of Aflatoxin B1-Treated Male Wistar Rats: Preventive Effect of Picroliv

“…In conclusion, picroliv showed significant preventive (hepatoprotective) effect against aflatoxin B 1 -induced hepatotoxicity in rats which may be due to its membrane stabilizing property, antioxidant property, hypolipidaemic property or its effect on protein biosynthesis affecting the levels of DNA, RNA and proteins (Dwivedi et al 1991b(Dwivedi et al , 1992b(Dwivedi et al , 1993Khanna et al 1994;Rastogi et al 1995). …”