Open AccessThe essential oil of Artemisia capillaris protects against CCl4-induced liver injury in vivo
Author(s) -
QingHan Gao,
Xin Zhao,
Lei Yin,
Yuanbin Zhang,
Bing Wang,
Xiuli Wu,
Xinhui Zhang,
Xueyan Fu,
Weihong Sun
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
revista brasileira de farmacognosia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.432
H-Index - 46
eISSN - 1981-528X
pISSN - 0102-695X
DOI - 10.1016/j.bjp.2016.01.001
Subject(s) - liver injury , glutathione peroxidase , malondialdehyde , superoxide dismutase , chemistry , pharmacology , ccl4 , antioxidant , glutathione , liver function , biochemistry , biology , carbon tetrachloride , medicine , enzyme , organic chemistry
To study the hepatoprotective effect of the essential oil of Artemisia capillaris Thunb., Asteraceae, on CCl4-induced liver injury in mice, the levels of serum aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase, hepatic levels of reduced glutathione, activity of glutathione peroxidase, and the activities of superoxide dismutase and malondialdehyde were assayed. Administration of the essential oil of A. capillaris at 100 and 50 mg/kg to mice prior to CCl4 injection was shown to confer stronger in vivo protective effects and could observably antagonize the CCl4-induced increase in the serum alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase activities and malondialdehyde levels as well as prevent CCl4-induced decrease in the antioxidant superoxide dismutase activity, glutathione level and glutathione peroxidase activity (p < 0.01). The oil mainly contained β-citronellol, 1,8-cineole, camphor, linalool, α-pinene, β-pinene, thymol and myrcene. This finding demonstrates that the essential oil of A. capillaris can protect hepatic function against CCl4-induced liver injury in mice