Hepatoprotective activity of Trianthema portulacastrum L. against lipopolysaccharide/D-galactosamine induced hepatotoxicity in mice

Abstract

D-Galactosamine (D-GalN) is a well-established hepatotoxic agent, whereas lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is a bacterial endotoxin; and both in a combination induces the liver damage, which is similar to a human hepatic diseases. In this study, we have evaluated the hepatoprotective activity of the Giant or Black Pigweed, Trianthema portulacastrum L. against D-galactosamine in the presence of lipopolysaccharide (LPS/D-GalN) induced hepatotoxicity using Swiss albino mice. LPS/D-GalN treatment elevated the liver marker enzymes. The combined action of LPS/D-GalN decreased the production of antioxidants such as reduced glutathione (GSH), catalase, superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione reductase (GR), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), glutathione S-transferase (GST) and increase in the malondialdehyde (MDA) and nitric oxide (NO) formation. Pretreatment with T. portulacastrum (TP) extract showed dose dependently attenuated liver marker enzymes, increased GSH content, upregulated enzymatic activities of antioxidants in liver, decreased MDA and NO formation. The results also revealed that LPS/D-GalN-treatment increased the inflammation as observed through neutrophil infiltrations and increased the formation of sinusoids as evidenced from the histopathological studies of liver tissue and the TP extract pre-treatment mitigated the neutrophil infiltration and sinusoids formation dose dependently.