Hepatoprotective activity of a purified methanol extract and saponins from the roots of Chenopodium bonus-henricus L.

An ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry based profiling of a purified MeOH extract (PME) from the roots of Chenopodium bonus-henricus L. (Amaranthaceae) tentatively identified 15 saponins of six sapogenins. The PME exerts hepatoprotective and antioxidant activities comparable to those of flavonoid complex silymarin in in vitro (1 and 10 μg/mL) and in vivo (200 mg/kg/daily for 7 days) models of hepatotoxicity, induced by CCl4. The main constituents of PME, respectively saponins bonushenricoside A (1), 3-O-β-D-glucuronopyranosyl-bayogenin-28-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl ester (2), 3-O-β-D-glucuronopyranosyl-medicagenic acid-28-O-β-D-xylopyranosyl (1→4)-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl(1→2)-α-L-arabinopyranosyl ester (3), 3-O-β-D-glucuronopyranosyl-2β-hydroxygypsogenin-28-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl ester (4), 3-O-α-L-rabinopyranosyl-bayogenin-28-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl ester (6) and bonushenricoside B (8) (3 μg/mL each), compared to silymarin (5 and 50 μg/mL), significantly reduced the cellular damage caused by CCl4 in rat hepatocytes, preserved cell viability and glutathione level, decreased lactate dehydrogenase leakage and reduced lipid damage. The experimental data suggest that the glycosides of phytolaccagenin, bayogenin, medicagenic acid, 2β-hydroxygypsogenin, 2β-hydroxyoleanoic acid and oleanoic acid are a promising and safe class of hepatoprotective agents.