The Protective Properties of the Strawberry (Fragaria ananassa) against Carbon Tetrachloride-Induced Hepatotoxicity in Rats Mediated by Anti-Apoptotic and Upregulation of Antioxidant Genes Expression Effects

Abstract

The strawberry (Fragaria ananassa) has been extensively used to treat a wide range of ailments in many cultures. The present study was aimed at evaluating the hepatoprotective effect of strawberry juice on experimentally induced liver injury in rats. To this end, rats were introperitoneally injected with carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) with or without strawberry juice supplementation for 12 weeks and the hepatoprotective effect of strawberry was assessed by measuring serum liver enzyme markers, hepatic tissue redox status and apoptotic markers with various techniques including biochemistry, ELISA, quantitative PCR assays and histochemistry. The hepatoprotective effect of the strawberry was evident by preventing CCl4-induced increase in liver enzymes levels. Determination of oxidative balance showed that strawberry treatment significantly blunted CCl4-induced increase in oxidative stress markers and decrease in enzymatic and non-enzymatic molecules in hepatic tissue. Furthermore, strawberry supplementation enhanced the anti-apoptotic protein, Bcl-2, and restrained the pro-apoptotic proteins Bax and caspase-3 with a marked reduction in collagen areas in hepatic tissue. These findings demonstrated that strawberry (F. ananassa) juice possessed antioxidant, anti-apoptotic and anti-fibrotic properties, probably mediated by the presence of polyphenols and flavonoids compounds.

Ultraviolet light‐C increases antioxidant capacity of the strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa) in vitro and in high‐fat diet‐induced obese rats

“…These findings are very important because in pancreas, a study found that long‐term to high fat promotes oxidative stress followed by detrimental to Beta cells, producing activation of apoptotic ways (Zhao et al., ). Moreover, the liver plays an important role in complex metabolism like glycogen storage, lipid and protein synthesis, and detoxification (Hamed et al., ), for this reason, impairment liver function can lead to increase oxidative stress (Hamed et al., ). In our study, HFD increased the TBARS and carbonyls levels, whereas the NSE and UViSE extracts reduced these markers of oxidative damage; thus, ours extracts protect to the liver against oxidative damage, but unfortunately the effect of UViSE on protein oxidation was not significant.…”

“…In our study, HFD increased the TBARS and carbonyls levels, whereas the NSE and UViSE extracts reduced these markers of oxidative damage; thus, ours extracts protect to the liver against oxidative damage, but unfortunately the effect of UViSE on protein oxidation was not significant. Likewise the strawberry has been used as hepatoprotective in liver injury by tetrachloride in rats, which is due to his anti‐apoptotic and antioxidant properties (Hamed et al., ).…”

“…Likewise the strawberry has been used as hepatoprotective in liver injury by tetrachloride in rats, which is due to his anti-apoptotic and antioxidant properties (Hamed et al, 2016).…”

Aqueous extract of Dennettia tripetala ameliorates liver and kidney damage caused by multiple exposures to carbon tetrachloride

“…This was also evident from the histopathological evaluations. Other researchers have reported this pathology of lipid accumulation in the liver of animals following carbon tetrachloride administration [25][26][27]. The possible mechanism for this lipid accumulation may include: carbon tetrachloride-induced decrease in the secretion of lipids from the liver [28] as well as increase in the synthesis of lipids in the liver [29].…”

“…When an animal is exposed to an external source of free radicals (e.g., as a result of exposure to a toxic chemical) the animal's antioxidant defense mechanism steps in and tries to control the rate of deleterious bio-oxidation and molecular damage [31]. Table 5 Effect of aqueous extract of Dennettia tripetala on antioxidant enzyme activity and lipid peroxidation status in liver of rats exposed to carbon tetrachloride Table 6 Effect of aqueous extract of Dennettia tripetala on urea and creatinine concentration in the serum of rats exposed to carbon tetrachloride Several researchers have observed that the activities and expression of antioxidant enzymes such as SOD, catalase and glutathione peroxidase, drops drastically in the liver and kidney of animals exposed to an external source of free radicals compared to control animals [25,27,30,[32][33][34]. This may be explained by the fact that these radicals may inhibit (non-specifically) the synthesis as well as the activity of antioxidant enzymes in the liver and kidney at the DNA level and at the protein level respectively [31,[35][36][37].…”