Oxidative stress-mediated hepatotoxicity in rats induced by ethanol extracts of different parts of Chloranthus serratus

• Published in: Pharmaceutical biology 2020-01, Vol.58 (1), p.1286-1298
• Main Authors: Sun, Shuping, Wang, Yang, Du, Yunyan, Sun, Qi, He, Lijuan, Zhu, Enze, Li, Jiarong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Chloranthaceae; Chloranthus serratus; Ethanol; Hepatotoxicity; Inflammatory diseases; Intercellular adhesion molecule 1; Liver; liver damage; Nrf2/HO-1 pathway; oxidative damage; Oxidative stress; pathological changes; toxic mechanism; Tumor necrosis factor-α; Ultrastructure
• ISSN: 1388-0209; 1744-5116
• DOI: 10.1080/13880209.2020.1859552

Chloranthus serratus (Thunb.) Roem. et Schult. (Chloranthaceae) is an herb widely used as a folk medicine treating inflammatory diseases, although it is toxic. To investigate hepatotoxicity and related mechanisms induced by ethanol extracts of different parts of C. serratus in rats. Sprague Dawley rats were divided into control (Con), ethanol extract of roots (ER), stems (ES), and leaves (EL) groups, and acute oral toxicity studies were conducted. The rats received doses of 4.14, 3.20, and 1.16 g/kg/d extracts for 14 days, respectively. Liver index, liver function and oxidative stress biomarkers, liver pathology, ultrastructure, TNF-α, ICAM-1, and Nrf2/HO-1 proteins expression levels were determined. The LD 50 of ER, ES, and EL were higher than 10.35, 8.05, and 2.90 g/kg/p.o., respectively. The liver indexes in the extract groups increased significantly. EL dramatically increased TP, GLB, AST, ALT, ALP, TBA, MDA, ICAM-1, and TNF-α levels (p