Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Protective effect of Alhagi sparsifolia against acetaminophen-induced liver injury in mice

Aili Aierken¹, Zhihui Jiang^2,3, Kuerbanjiang Maimaitimin¹, Mikeremu Shayibuzhati¹, Xiaoying Zhang^1-3

¹College of Veterinary Medicine, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi, Xinjiang, 830052; ²College of Veterinary Medicine, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, 712100; ³Research Center of Modern Biotechnology, School of Biotechnology and Food Engineering, Anyang Institute of Technology, Anyang, Henan, 455000, China.

For correspondence:- Xiaoying Zhang Email: zhang.xy@nwsuaf.edu.cn Tel:+862987091239

Accepted: 14 March 2018 Published: 30 April 2018

Citation: Aierken A, Jiang Z, Maimaitimin K, Shayibuzhati M, Zhang X. Protective effect of Alhagi sparsifolia against acetaminophen-induced liver injury in mice. Trop J Pharm Res 2018; 17(4):641-646 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v17i4.11

© 2018 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the hepatoprotective effects of Alhagi sparsifolia extract against acetaminophen (APAP)-induced liver injury in mice.

Methods: Three doses of Alhagi sparsifolia (600, 300 and 150 mg/kg) were were administered to separate groups of mice orally once a day for three days. One-hour after the last dose, APAP (300 mg/kg) was intraperitoneally injected. Liver tissue was taken and tested for levels of serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine transaminase (ALT) as biomarkers of liver injury; malonaldehyde (MDA); hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂); glutathione (GSH) as an indicator of liver redox; and antioxidant enzyme activity using super oxide dismutase (SOD) assay. Additionally, western blotting was used to measure the expression of protein cytochrome P450 2E1 (CYP2E1) as the key enzyme of APAP metabolism.

Results: Blood serum of ALT and AST and levels of CYP2E1 were markedly reduced, while the levels of MDA, H₂O₂, and SOD were elevated in a dose-dependent manner in mice treated with Alhagi sparsifolia compared to control group treated with APAP alone.

Conclusion: The results demonstrate that Alhagi sparsifolia protects mice liver tissue against APAP-induced hepatic injury partly via decreased oxidative stress and inhibition of CYP2E1 expression.

Keywords: Alhagi sparsifolia, Polysaccharide, Acetaminophen, CYP2E1, Antioxidant