Protective effect of Lysimachia christinae against acute alcohol-induced liver injury in mice

Lysimachia christinae Hance (Primulaceae) is a medicinal plant. The present study was undertaken to investigate protection of L. christinae against acute alcohol-induced liver injury in mice, the related mechanism of oxidative stress and its hepatoprotective chemical compound for the first time. Mice were orally administered alcohol at 6 g/kg 2 h after a 75% ethanol extract of L. christinae (ET) (100, 200, 400 mg/kg), quercetin (2, 4, 8 mg/kg) isolated from L. christinae, or bifendate (150 mg/kg) for seven consecutive days by intragastric administration (i.g.) except the normal group. Serum and liver tissue samples were collected 6 h after alcohol administration and the amount of quercetin in ET was analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with a diode array detector (DAD). The results showed that alcohol-induced elevated serum alanine transferase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST) activities were significantly reduced by ET (200, 400 mg/kg), quercetin (4, 8 mg/kg) and bifendate (150 mg/kg), respectively. Further analysis demonstrated that lipid peroxidation (LPO) levels significantly decreased, while glutathione amounts, glutathione-s transferase (GST), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities all increased in livers of ET-, quercetin-, and bifendate-treated mice. Besides, amount of quercetin in ET was 1.03%. Taken together, our results indicate that L. christinae can protect against acute alcohol-induced liver injury in mice, the potential mechanism can be related to inhibiting liver oxidative stress injury, and its main hepatoprotective compound is quercetin, for the first time.