Aloe-Emodin Quinone Pretreatment Reduces Acute Liver Injury Induced by Carbon Tetrachloride

Abstract

Aloe contains several active compounds including aloin, a C-glycoside that can be hydrolyzed in the gut to form aloe-emodin anthrone which, in turn, is auto-oxidized to the quinone aloe-emodin. On the basis of the claimed hepatoprotective activity of some antraquinones, we studied aloe-emodin in a rat model of carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) intoxication, since this xenobiotic induces acute liver damage by lipid peroxidation subsequent to free radical production. Twelve rats were treated with CCl4 (3 mg/kg) intraperitoneally and six were protected with two intraperitoneally injections of aloe-emodin (50 mg/kg; CCl4+aloe-emodin); six other rats were only aloe-emodin injected (aloe-emodin) and six were untreated (control). Histological examination of the livers showed less marked lesions in the CCl4+aloe-emodin rats than in those treated with CCl4 alone, and this was confirmed by the serum levels of L-aspartate-2-oxoglutate-aminotransferase (394+/-38.6 UI/l in CCl4, 280+/-24.47 UI/l in CCl4+aloe-emodin rats; P<0.05). We also quantified changes in hepatic albumin and tumour necrosis factor-alpha mRNAs. Albumin mRNA expression was significantly lower only in the liver of CCl4 rats (P<0.05 versus control) and was only slightly reduced in the CCl4+aloe-emodin rats. In contrast tumour necrosis factor-alpha mRNA was significantly higher (P<0.05) in the CCl4 than the control rats and almost equal in the CCl4+aloe-emodin, aloe-emodin and control groups. In conclusion, aloe-emodin appears to have some protective effect not only against hepatocyte death but also on the inflammatory response subsequent to lipid peroxidation.

Hepatoprotective effect of aqeous methanolic extract of <i>Rumex dentatus</i> in paracetamol induced hepatotoxicity in mice

“…Preliminary phytochemical studies showed the presence of tannins, saponins, flavonoids, terpenoids, cardiac glycosides and alkaloids. Hepatoprotective action is found in cinnamic acid (Simonyan, 1993), ferulic acid (Srinivasan et al, 2007), saponins, (Kumar et al, 2011;Gujrati et al, 2007), syringic acid (Itoh et al, 2009) alkaloids (Gujrati et al, 2007;Vijayan et al, 2003), vinillin (Makni et al, 2011), tannins (Sathaya et al, 2011, anthraquinones (Arosio et al, 2008) and flavonoids (Vijay and Padmaa, 2011;Sahreen et al, 2011).…”

Alterations in xenobiotic metabolism in the long‐lived Little mice

“…Acute CCl 4 administration is another widely used model of drug-induced hepatotoxicity (Arosio et al ., 2000;Yamazaki et al ., 2005;Dwivedi et al ., 2006). In this case, we observed that both wild-type ( n = 7) and Little ( n = 5) mice showed extensive liver damage.…”

Emodin mitigates the oxidative stress induced by cisplatin in osteosarcoma MG63 cells

“…As a natural bioactive anthraquinone, emodin has previously been used therapeutically to treat gastroenteric and liver diseases (21). Emodin is widely used for multiple effects, such as antiviral and hepatoprotective activities (22,23); however, current studies focus more on the anti-tumor activity of emodin. Previously, emodin was demonstrated to inhibit breast cancer cell growth (24).…”