| Summary: | 碩士 === 輔仁大學 === 營養科學系 === 99 === Acetaminophen (APAP) is a popular analgesic and antipyretic drug used at therapeutic doses. However, accidental or intentional ingestion of larger amounts causes severe hepatotoxicity. Hedyotis diffusa (HD) is a well-known Chinese folk medicine and also drunk as the herb tea. Recent researches had shown that it exhibits anti-inflammatory, anticarcinogenic and antioxidative activities. The present study was to investigate the antioxidative and hepatoprotective effect of HD against APAP-induced liver damage in BALB/c mice. The extracts of HD by various solvents (water, 50% ethanol, 95% ethanol) were used to compare the antioxidant activity in vitro, including trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC), DPPH, reducing power and total phenolic contents, and to choose the best extracts to conduct animal study. The 60 male BALB/c mice were randomly divided into five groups and received the following treatments by gavage for four weeks: control group, negative control group, positive control group (N-acetylcysteine 600 mg/kg bw) and two HD groups at different dosages (300, 900 mg/kg bw, respectively). In addition, APAP (400 mg/kg bw) was administrated to the mice except those in the control group by intraperitoneal injection twice a week from the second week of experiment. Blood samples were collected once a week for measuring liver function. After animals sacrificed, collecting blood and the liver for further analyses. Our results showed that 95% and 50% ethanol extracts of HD had improved antioxidant capacity. In this animal study, mice treated with HD (300, 900 mg/kg bw) had significantly decreased levels of aspartate aminotransferase (ALT) and alanine aminotransferase (AST) compared with the negative control group. Moreover, HD could significantly increase glutathione S-transferase (GST) activity, as well as glutathione (GSH), GSH/GSSG and TEAC in liver. Nevertheless, high dose of HD significantly augment superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity. Taken together, HD had protective effects against APAP-induced liver injury in mice through raising the antioxidant capacity.
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