Hepatoprotective activity of Trapa acornis shell extracts against CCl4-induced liver injury in rats

Trapa acornis (TA) pulp is one of the most popular vegetables and fruits with unique taste in China. Our previous study showed that T. acornis shell (TAS) had strong antioxidant activity in vitro. Polyphenols and flavonoids have contributed to antioxidant activity; and hepatoprotective activity also has relationship with antioxidant activity. Nevertheless, there have been no reports on total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) of extracts of TAS and hepatoprotective activity of TAS extracts against CCl4-induced liver injury in rats. There was intragastric administration of ethyl acetate extract (TASEA) and n-butanol extract (TASBU) of T. acornis shell in rats for 8 days; and the last administration was done after 2 h, except for the normal control group. Other groups were all given 0.4% CCl4 at the dose of 100 mL/kg diluted in olive oil by intraperitoneal injection. Results showed that the levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) in each treatment group were significantly decreased (P<0.001 and P<0.01 respectively). The level of malondialdehyde (MDA) was significantly decreased in liver tissue (P<0.001). In addition to TASEA (200 mg/kg b.w.), the level of superoxide dismutase (SOD) in liver tissue for treatment group was significantly increased (P<0.001, P <0.01 and P<0.05, respectively). It is demonstrated that extracts of TAS had hepatoprotective effect on CCl4-induced liver injury, which may be attributable to its antioxidant activity.