The Flavonoid Naringenin Inhibits Dimethylnitrosamine-Induced Liver Damage in Rats

Abstract

Naringenin, a phytoalexin found in grapefruits and tomatoes, has been reported to exhibit a wide range of pharmacological properties. In this study, we investigated the protective effect of naringenin on hepatic injury induced by dimethylnitrosamine (DMN) in rats. Oral administration of naringenin (20 and 50 mg/kg daily for 4 weeks) remarkably prevented the DMN-induced loss in body and liver weights and inhibited the elevation of serum alanine transaminase, aspartate transaminase, alkaline phosphatase, and bilirubin levels. Naringenin also restored serum albumin and total protein levels, and reduced the hepatic level of malondialdehyde. Furthermore, DMN-induced collagen accumulation, as estimated by histological analysis of liver tissue stained with Sirius red, was reduced in the naringenin-treated rats. A reduction in hepatic stellate cell activation, as assessed by a asmooth muscle actin staining, was associated with naringenin treatment. In conclusion, these results demonstrate that naringenin exhibited in vivo hepatoprotective and anti-fibrogenic effects against DMN-induced liver injury. It suggests that naringenin may be useful in preventing the development of hepatic fibrosis.Key words naringenin; hepatoprotective effect; anti-fibrogenic effect Fig. 1. Chemical Structure of Naringenin (4Ј,5,7-Trihydroxyflavanone)

Self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery system (SNEDDS) of the poorly water-soluble grapefruit flavonoid Naringenin: design, characterization,in vitroandin vivoevaluation

“…NRG has been reported to posses several effects on biological system such as antioxidant (Rice-Evans et al, 1996;Cao et al, 1997), anti-inflammatory (Manthey 2000), anticancer (Goldwasser, 2010), antifibrogenic (Lee et al, 2004) and antiatherogenic (Lee et al, 2001). The beneficial effects on human health are mainly due to their antioxidant activity and ability to chelate metals, to scavenge oxygen free-radical, to inhibit enzymes and to prevent oxidation of low-density lipoproteins (LDL) (Madsen et al, 2000;Yu et al, 2005).…”

Antioxidant and antibacterial activity of extracts, fractions and isolated substances from the flowers of Acacia podalyriifolia A. Cunn. ex G. Don

“…Numerous studies describe the pharmacological properties of these compounds. Among the several applications of these flavanones are an antioxidant effect (Acker, 2000), hepatoprotective (Lee et al, 2004;Salgado et al, 2007), anti-inflammatory (Bodet et al, 2008), antiviral (Paredes et al, 2003;Nahmias et al, 2008), antihypertensive (Saponara et al, 2006) and antimutagenic (Choi et al, 1994;Renugadevi, Prabu, 2009) effects. These studies demonstrate the many potential applications of these compounds, with A. podalyriifolia an important source of these substances.…”

Activity Change of Sphingomyelin Anabolic Enzymes during Dimethylnitrosamine-induced Hepatic Fibrosis in Rats

“…The protocol used for inducing the liver injury by the chemical DMN is a modified version of that originally described by Lee et al (Lee et al, 2004). In brief, prior to the start of the study twenty rats were randomized on the basis of their body weight and assigned them to five groups of four each: control, DMN 1week, DMN 2 weeks, DMN 3 weeks and DMN 4 weeks such that each group had similar distribution of body weights.…”