Dandelion leaf extract protects against liver injury induced by methionine- and choline-deficient diet in mice.
We investigated the hepatoprotective effects of the extract of dandelion leaves (EDL) on a murine model of methionine- and choline-deficient (MCD) diet-induced nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). C57BL/6 mice were fed for 4 weeks with one of the following diets: control diet (Cont), MCD diet (MCD), MCD diet supplemented with EDL at 200 mg/kg body weight·daily (MCD+D200), and MCD diet supplemented with EDL at 500 mg/kg body weight·daily (MCD+D500). Hepatic function was assessed by evaluating the following parameters: liver histology; plasma levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), triglyceride (TG), malondialdehyde (MDA), and reduced glutathione (GSH); expression levels of TNF-α and IL-6; and levels of caspase-3 and pJNK/JNK protein. Histopathological evaluations revealed that addition of EDL to the MCD diet dampens the severity of the clinical signs of NASH. Moreover, EDL led to a significant decrease in the serum levels of ALT, hepatic TG, and MDA, and in the expression levels of TNF-α, and IL-6; on the contrary, the levels of reduced GSH increased. At the post-transcriptional level, EDL significantly decreased the activation of procaspase-3 to active caspase-3, and the phosphorylation of JNK. These results suggest that the beneficial effects of EDL on NASH are mainly due to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities.
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CHEMICAL CHEMICAL CHEMICAL CHEMICAL CHEMICAL CHEMICAL CHEMICAL CHEMICAL CHEMICAL CHEMICAL CHEMICAL CHEMICAL GENE-Y GENE-Y GENE-Y GENE-N GENE-N GENE-N GENE-Y GENE-Y GENE-Y GENE-N GENE-N GENE-N GENE-Y
reduced GSH methionine choline alanine triglyceride malondialdehyde MDA reduced glutathione GSH MDA methionine choline IL-6 procaspase-3 caspase-3 JNK alanine aminotransferase ALT TNF-α IL-6 caspase-3 pJNK JNK ALT TNF-α