Antioxidant and hepatoprotective effects of punicalagin and punicalin on acetaminophen‐induced liver damage in rats

Abstract

Punicalagin and punicalin were isolated from the leaves of Terminalia catappa L., a Combretaceous plant distributed throughout tropical and subtropical beaches, which is used for the treatment of dermatitis and hepatitis. Our previous studies showed that both of these compounds exert antioxidative activity. In this study, the antihepatotoxic activity of punicalagin and punicalin on acetaminophen-induced toxicity in the rat liver was evaluated. After evaluating the changes of several biochemical functions in serum, the levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) were increased by acetaminophen administration and reduced by punicalagin and punicalin. Histological changes around the hepatic central vein and oxidative damage induced by acetaminophen were also recovered by both compounds. The data show that both punicalagin and punicalin exert antihepatotoxic activity, but treatment with larger doses enhanced liver damage. These results suggest that even if punicalagin and punicalin have antioxidant activity at small doses, treatment with larger doses will possibly induce some cell toxicities.

Protective effect ofTerminalia muelleriagainst carbon tetrachloride-induced hepato and nephro-toxicity in mice and characterization of its bioactive constituents

“…The pharmacological activities of ellagitannins are attributed mainly to their potent free radical scavenging effect, chelation of excess metal ions, reduction of lipid peroxidation, and modulation of antioxidant defenses (Nwanna & Oboh, 2007;Soobrattee et al, 2005). Several studies attributed the marked antioxidant capacity of commercial pomegranate to its high phenolic content, particularly to its ellagitannins punicalagin and punicalin (Lin et al, 2001;Tezcan et al, 2009). Tellimagrandin I from walnuts had a hepatoprotective effect in a CCl 4 -induced rat liver injury model (Shimoda et al, 2008).…”

Ellagitannins, ellagic acid and their derived metabolites: A review about source, metabolism, functions and health

“…With more than 500 natural products characterized so far, ETs form the largest group of known tannins (Khanbabaee & van Ree, 2001). They also play an important role in human nutrition and are endowed with numerous biological properties, including antioxidant (Mullen et al, 2002;Seeram et al, 2005;Zafrilla, Ferreres, & Tomás-Barberán, 2001), anticancer (Larrosa, González-Sarrías, et al, 2006;Narayanan, Narayanan, Geoffroy, & Nixon, 2005), anti-atherosclerotic (Aviram et al, 2004;Yu, Chang, Wu, & Chiang, 2005), anti-inflammatory (Masamune et al, 2005), antihepatotoxic (Lin, Hsu, Lin, & Hsu, 2001), antibacterial (Akiyama, Fujii, Yamasaki, Oono, & Iwatsuki, 2001) and anti-HIV replication (Martino et al, 2004;Nonaka et al, 1990) activities.…”

Treatment Methods of Traditional Chinese Medicine for Infection with Ascaris lumbricoides and Other Nematodes

“…Except for the function of Fructus quisqualis against ascariasis and enterobiasis, Fructus quisqualis also has been reported in field application for treating headache, fever, and wound infection in Southeast Asia (Lauritzen et al 1988). Two components, punicalagin and punicalin, of Fructus quisqualis were reported to have the function of anti-AIDS virus and protect liver from damage (Lin et al 2001;Nonaka et al 1990) (Fig. 13.1).…”