The MOE Key Laboratory for Standardization of Chinese Medicines, Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China.
Hum Exp Toxicol. 2011 Sep;30(9):1333-41. doi: 10.1177/0960327110389926. Epub 2010 Nov 12.
The present study was undertaken to investigate the gender-related liver injury induced by Dioscorea bulbifera L. (DB), a traditional medicinal plant, in mice, and further explored its hepatotoxic chemical compound. Serum and liver tissue samples were collected at 0, 4, 8, 12 h, after mice were administrated orally with 640 mg/kg ethyl acetate extracts (EF) isolated from DB. After treatments, serum alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST) activities were both significantly elevated. Liver lipid peroxidation (LPO) level increased, while glutathione amounts, glutathione-S-transferase (GST), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities all decreased in the time-dependent manner. Further analysis demonstrated that ALT and AST activities in female mice were significantly lower than those in male. Meanwhile, liver glutathione amounts and CAT activity in female mice after giving EF for 12 h were both higher than those in male. Further, comparing the liver injury induced by Diosbulbin B isolated from DB with that induced by EF on the basis of chemical analysis for the amounts of Diosbulbin B in EF of DB, we found that Diosbulbin B could be the main hepatotoxic chemical compound in DB. Taken together, our results show that DB can induce gender-related liver oxidative stress injury in mice, and its main hepatotoxic chemical compound is Diosbulbin B, for the first time.
本研究旨在探讨传统药用植物薯蓣（Dioscorea bulbifera L.）中薯蓣皂苷元（DB）引起的性别相关肝损伤，并进一步探讨其肝毒性化学化合物。在给小鼠口服 640mg/kg 的 DB 乙酸乙酯提取物（EF）后 0、4、8、12 小时采集血清和肝组织样本。处理后，血清丙氨酸转氨酶（ALT）和天冬氨酸转氨酶（AST）活性均显著升高。肝脂质过氧化（LPO）水平升高，而谷胱甘肽含量、谷胱甘肽-S-转移酶（GST）、超氧化物歧化酶（SOD）和过氧化氢酶（CAT）活性均呈时间依赖性下降。进一步分析表明，雌鼠的 ALT 和 AST 活性明显低于雄鼠。同时，给予 EF 12 小时后雌鼠肝组织中的谷胱甘肽含量和 CAT 活性均高于雄鼠。此外，根据 DB 中 EF 中薯蓣皂苷元的含量对 DB 中薯蓣皂苷元分离物引起的肝损伤与 EF 引起的肝损伤进行比较，发现薯蓣皂苷元可能是 DB 中的主要肝毒性化学化合物。综上所述，我们的研究结果表明，DB 可引起雌雄小鼠性别相关的肝氧化应激损伤，其主要肝毒性化学化合物为薯蓣皂苷元，这是首次报道。
