Abdel-Kader Maged S, Abulhamd Ashraf T, Hamad Abubaker M, Alanazi Abdullah H, Ali Rizwan, Alqasoumi Saleh I
Department of Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, 11942 Al-kharj, Saudi Arabia.
Permanent address: Department of Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21215, Egypt.
Saudi Pharm J. 2018 May;26(4):496-503. doi: 10.1016/j.jsps.2018.02.009. Epub 2018 Feb 11.
Liver diseases are one of the fatal syndromes due to the vital role of the liver. Most of the effective treatment of liver conditions are of natural origin. Silymarin (SI) is the standard drug used for treatment of impaired liver functions. Two natural compounds possessing promising liver protection and with different chemical structures namely; the bioflavonoid hinokiflavone (HF) isolated from family Cupressaceae and the sweet saponin Glycyrrhizin (GL) present in (liquorice) were selected for the current study. Since the two compounds are of different nature, they may act by different mechanisms and express synergistic effect. Combination of the two compounds using to dose levels were challenged with single doses of HF, GL and SI as well. The comparison was monitored via measuring serum biochemical parameters including, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), gamma glutamyltranspeptidase (GGT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and total bilirubin, tissue parameters such as MDA, NP-SH and TP, histopathological study using light and electron microscope. Protective effect on kidney was also monitored histopathologically and biochemically through observing the levels of LDH, creatinine, creatinine-kinase, urea and uric acid. The combinations of HF and GL showed protective effect more than the used single doses of HF and GL alone. However, SI was superior to the used combination in the two used doses in all the measured parameters. The liver and kidney cells appearance under normal and electron microscope showed that SI treated groups showed almost normal cells with slight toxic signs. Cells from group treated with the higher doses of the combination of HF and GL showed slight signs of intoxication under light and electron microscope indicating good level of protection. Although the combination of HF and GL expressed good protection in the higher dose, however, the combination did not exceed the protective effect of SI.
由于肝脏的重要作用，肝脏疾病是致命综合征之一。大多数肝脏疾病的有效治疗方法都源于天然。水飞蓟素（SI）是用于治疗肝功能受损的标准药物。本研究选择了两种具有肝脏保护作用且化学结构不同的天然化合物，即从柏科植物中分离出的生物黄酮扁柏黄酮（HF）和甘草中含有的甜皂苷甘草酸（GL）。由于这两种化合物性质不同，它们可能通过不同机制起作用并表现出协同效应。将这两种化合物以两种剂量水平组合使用，并分别用单剂量的HF、GL和SI进行对照。通过测量血清生化参数（包括天冬氨酸转氨酶（AST）、丙氨酸转氨酶（ALT）、γ-谷氨酰转肽酶（GGT）、碱性磷酸酶（ALP）和总胆红素）、组织参数（如丙二醛（MDA）、非蛋白巯基（NP-SH）和总蛋白（TP））以及使用光学显微镜和电子显微镜进行组织病理学研究来进行比较。还通过观察乳酸脱氢酶（LDH）、肌酐、肌酸激酶、尿素和尿酸水平，从组织病理学和生化方面监测对肾脏的保护作用。HF和GL的组合显示出比单独使用的单剂量HF和GL更强的保护作用。然而，在所有测量参数中，SI在两种使用剂量下均优于所使用的组合。光学显微镜和电子显微镜下正常及处理后的肝脏和肾脏细胞外观显示，SI处理组的细胞几乎正常，但有轻微毒性迹象。高剂量HF和GL组合处理组的细胞在光学显微镜和电子显微镜下显示出轻微的中毒迹象，表明具有良好的保护水平。尽管HF和GL的组合在高剂量时表现出良好的保护作用，但该组合并未超过SI的保护效果。
