Lack of Protective Effect of D-003, a Mixture of High-Molecular-Weight Primary Acids from Sugar Cane Wax, on Liver Damage Induced by Galactosamine in Rats

Abstract

D-003 is a mixture of very-high-molecular-weight aliphatic primary acids purified from sugar cane wax, wherein octacosanoic acid is the most abundant. Experimental and clinical studies have shown that D-003 lowers cholesterol and prevents plasma lipoprotein peroxidation (LP). D-003 has protected against the histological changes characteristic of CCl4- and paracetamol-induced hepatic injury in rats, in which LP plays a pivotal role for explaining the resulting hepatotoxicity. Galactosamine induces hepatotoxicity associated with depressed RNA and protein synthesis, not with LP. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether D-003 could prevent hepatoxicity induced by mechanisms others than increased LP. We investigated the effects on galactosamine hepatotoxicity in rats distributed into five groups: a negative control group, a positive control group, and three groups treated with galactosamine and D-003 (5, 25, and 100 mg/kg). To induce liver damage, galactosamine (800 mg/kg) was injected intraperitoneally 30 minutes after dosing with vehicle or D-003. Twenty-four hours later, rats were sacrificed, and livers were immediately removed for histopathological studies. Livers from positive controls showed the characteristic pattern of galactosamine-induced damage. Galactosamine significantly reduced the percentage of normal hepatocytes, increasing both necrotic or lipid-rich hepatocytes compared with negative controls. D-003, however, did not increase the percentage of normal hepatocytes compared with positive controls, indicating that treatment was not effective for preventing the hepatic injury induced with galactosamine. Likewise, D-003 failed to change the content of necrotic and lipid-rich hepatocytes relative to positive controls. It is concluded that D-003 did not protect against the histological changes of galactosamine-induced hepatotoxicity.

Octacosanol Attenuates Disrupted Hepatic Reactive Oxygen Species Metabolism Associated with Acute Liver Injury Progression in Rats Intoxicated with Carbon Tetrachloride

“…It has been shown that when octacosanol (60 mg/kg BW) is orally administered to rats, not only octacosanol but also octacosanoic acid, an oxidation product of octacosanol, appears in the liver and the hepatic amount of octacosanoic acid is a few times higher than that of octacosanol [ 35 ]. Noa et al [ 36 ] reported that oral administration of D-003, a mixture of high molecular weight primary acids, such as octacosanoic acid, purified from sugar cane wax, protected against CCl 4 -induced acute liver injury in rats. In addition, it is known that LDL prepared from rats administered with D-003 is less susceptible to in vitro lipid peroxidation induced by copper ion and a free radical generator, 2,2'-azobis(2-amidinopropane), than LDL from rats without D-003 administration [ 37 ], like the case of administered policosanol [ 1 , 2 ].…”

Physicochemical and antioxidant properties of non‐refined sugarcane alternatives to white sugar

“…During the last years, sugarcane has raised interest regarding its nutraceutic properties. Several studies have shown beneficial effects of sugarcane extracts on models in vivo in the stimulation of the immune response, protection against liver damage, intestinal function recovery, protection against some infections, antitrombotic and antistress effects or growth stimulation (Koge et al ., ; Noa et al ., ; El‐Abasy et al ., , ; Amer et al ., ; Lo et al ., ; Motobu et al ., ; Yamauchi et al ., ). On searching the origin of these beneficial effects, it has been found that sugarcane has a powerful antioxidant activity (Abbas et al ., ; Feng et al ., ), and it is known that oxidative damage is involved in many human diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases or other degenerative disorders.…”

Antioxidant Activity of Phenolics Compounds From Sugar Cane (Saccharum officinarum L.) Juice

“…Some investigators [2,3] have consistently proved on in vivo models the antioxidant properties of high molecular weight alcohols contained in the wax. Sugar cane also contains phenolic acids, flavonoids and other phenolic compounds [4,5], which could account for certain antioxidant activity.…”