title: Agrimonia eupatoria protects against chronic ethanol-induced liver injury in rats.
abstract: This study examined the hepatoprotective effects of Agrimonia eupatoria water extract (AE) against chronic ethanol-induced liver injury. Rats were fed a Lieber-DeCarli liquid diet for 8 weeks. Animals were treated orally with AE at 10, 30, 100, and 300 mg/kg/day. After chronic consumption of ethanol, serum aminotransferase activities and pro-inflammatory cytokines markedly increased, and those increases were attenuated by AE. The cytochrome P450 2E1 activity and lipid peroxidation increased after chronic ethanol consumption, while reduced glutathione concentration decreased. Those changes were attenuated by AE. Chronic ethanol consumption increased the levels of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and myeloid differentiation factor 88 protein expression, inducible nitric oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase-2 protein and mRNA expression, and nuclear translocation of nuclear factor-kappa B, which was attenuated by AE. Our results suggest that AE ameliorates chronic ethanol-induced liver injury, and that protection is likely due to the suppression of oxidative stress and TLR-mediated inflammatory signaling.
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 440-746, South Korea.
authors.forename: Seong-Jin
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.forename: Eun-Ji
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Koh
authors.forename: Chang-Soo
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Ok-Pyo
authors.initials: OP
authors.lastname: Zee
authors.forename: Jong-Hwan
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kwak
authors.forename: Won-Jin
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.forename: Jee-Hyun
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Sun-Mee
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D031981:Agrimonia / Q000737:chemistry*; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001835:Body Weight; D019392:Cytochrome P-450 CYP2E1 / Q000378:metabolism; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood; D017931:DNA Primers; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D000431:Ethanol / Q000633:toxicity*; D018836:Inflammation Mediators / Q000097:blood; D015227:Lipid Peroxidation; D008108:Liver Diseases, Alcoholic / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008297:Male; D016328:NF-kappa B / Q000378:metabolism; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D051197:Toll-Like Receptor 4 / Q000378:metabolism; D000637:Transaminases / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D017931:DNA Primers; D018836:Inflammation Mediators; D016328:NF-kappa B; D010936:Plant Extracts; D051197:Toll-Like Receptor 4; D000431:Ethanol; D019392:Cytochrome P-450 CYP2E1; D000637:Transaminases