Development of a Hepatoprotective Herbal Drug from Turnera diffusa

Abstract

The incidence of liver diseases, such as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and drug-induced liver injury, continues to rise and is one of the leading causes of acute hepatitis. Current trends suggest that these types of conditions will increase in the coming years. There are few drugs available for the prevention or treatment of hepatic diseases, and there is a growing need for the development of safe hepatoprotective agents. The medicinal plant, Turnera diffusa, has many ethnopharmacological uses, one of which is the production of a flavonoid named hepatodamianol, which is the principal component responsible for this plant’s hepatoprotective properties. In the present study, we describe the development and standardization of an active extract obtained from T. diffusa. We conducted nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to identify hepatodamianol unambiguously in each sample. Using this extract, hepatoprotection could be demonstrated in vivo for the first time. The hepatoprotective effect did not display a significant difference in vivo when compared with silymarin used as a positive control at the same doses. Implementation of quality criteria used for standardization, such as flavonoid and hepatodamianol content, hepatoprotective activity, and absence of residual solvents, will allow future preclinical trials with this herbal drug.

Two Ways to Achieve the Same Goal—Two Validated Quantitative NMR Strategies for a Low-Abundance Natural Product in Standardized Extracts: The Case of Hepatodamianol in Turnera diffusa

“…The analytical method here described was designed as an alternative procedure for the quantification of hepatodamianol in standardized T. diffusa extracts. Table 9 presents the results obtained for the quantitation of hepatodamianol in four different samples of standardized extracts of T. diffusa , obtained by a method recently reported by us [ 12 ]. Although the %RSD values are slightly higher for the ERETIC2 method compared with those obtained using the calibration curve, the difference in the average concentration calculated by both methods is not statistically significant ( p > 0.05).…”

“…The methodology followed to obtain the standardized extracts was previously described by Delgado-Montemayor et al [ 12 ]. Briefly, 30 g of air-dried T. diffusa ground plant was extracted using methanol maceration at room temperature (3 × 500 mL, 2 h, 300 rpm) in a Heidolph Unimax 1010 orbital shaker (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA).…”

“…High-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection was performed as previously described [ 12 ] with minor modifications. A Waters Alliance 1525 LC system equipped with an online degasser, binary pump, autosampler, and a 2996 diode array detector (Waters, Milford, MA, USA) was used.…”

“…Numerous research groups have reported its biological activities, including its use as an aphrodisiac [ 10 ], antidiabetic [ 11 ], antioxidant [ 5 ], amidst others. Among its biological activities, the hepatoprotective activity stands out, which our work group demonstrated both in in vitro as well as in vivo models [ 12 ]. The preliminary results show that the methanolic extract from T. diffusa is associated with an antifibrotic effect by decreasing profibrotic and mitochondrial markers.…”

Cardioprotective and Hepatoprotective Effects of Ixora pavetta and Tecoma capensis Leaf Extracts

“…Apart from this liver also acts as a powerful agent of detoxification and homeostasis. [6][7][8] Damage to liver tissue results in failure of the metabolic activities followed by increased levels of triglycerides and cholesterol. 9 India alone is victim for 18.3% chronic liver diseases (CLDs) of the world 10 which is comparatively higher than the other Asian countries (WHO).…”