Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jul 7, 2015; 21(25): 7718-7729
Published online Jul 7, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i25.7718
Hepatoprotective effect of Geranium schiedeanum against ethanol toxicity during liver regeneration
Eduardo Madrigal-Santillán, Mirandeli Bautista, Juan A Gayosso-De-Lucio, Yadira Reyes-Rosales, Araceli Posadas-Mondragón, Ángel Morales-González, Marvin A Soriano-Ursúa, Jazmín García-Machorro, Eduardo Madrigal-Bujaidar, Isela Álvarez-González, José A Morales-González
Eduardo Madrigal-Santillán, Yadira Reyes-Rosales, Araceli Posadas-Mondragón, Jazmín García-Machorro, José A Morales-González, Laboratorio de Medicina de Conservación, Escuela Superior de Medicina, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Plan de San Luis y Díaz Mirón, México DF 11340, México
Mirandeli Bautista, Juan A Gayosso-De-Lucio, Área Académica de Farmacia, ICSa, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, Pachuca de Soto, estado de Hidalgo, CP 42000, México
Ángel Morales-González, Escuela Superior de Cómputo, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Av. Juan de Dios Bátiz s/n esquina Miguel Othón de Mendizabal, Unidad Profesional Adolfo López Mateos, México DF 07738, México
Marvin A Soriano-Ursúa, Departamento de Fisiología, Escuela Superior de Medicina, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Plan de San Luis y Díaz Mirón, Colonia Casco de Santo Tomas, Del. Miguel Hidalgo, México DF 11340, México
Eduardo Madrigal-Bujaidar, Isela Álvarez-González, Laboratorio de Genética, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Av. Wilfrido Massieu, Unidad A. López Mateos, Zacatenco, México DF 07700, México
Author contributions: Madrigal-Santillán E, Bautista M and Gayosso-De-Lucio JA conceived and designed the study; Gayosso-De-Lucio JA, Reyes-Rosales Y, Posadas-Mondragón A, Madrigal-Bujaidar E, Morales-González A and Soriano-Ursúa MA performed the experiments; Madrigal-Bujaidar E, Álvarez-González I and Morales-González JA analyzed the data; Bautista M, Gayosso-De-Lucio JA, Morales-González A, Soriano-Ursúa MA, García-Machorro J, Madrigal-Bujaidar E and Álvarez-González I contributed reagents/materials/analytic tools; Madrigal-Santillán E, Bautista M, Gayosso-De-Lucio JA and Morales-González JA wrote the manuscript; all authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by SIP Project, No. 20140856 and No. 2014092, ESM-IPN.
Ethics approval: Approved by the Committee of Research of the Escuela Superior de Medicina, IPN, México with registration number ESM.CI-01/07-08-2014.
Institutional animal care and use committee: Approved by the Internal Committee for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals of the Escuela Superior de Medicina, IPN, México with registration number ESM.CICUAL-01/20-05-2014.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: José A Morales-González, MD, PhD, Laboratorio de Medicina de Conservación, Escuela Superior de Medicina, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Plan de San Luis y Díaz Mirón, Col. Casco de Santo Tomás, Del. Miguel Hidalgo, México DF 11340, México. jmorales101@yahoo.com.mx
Telephone: +1-55-57296300 Fax: +52-555-7296000
Received: December 9, 2014
Peer-review started: December 9, 2014
First decision: January 22, 2015
Revised: February 25, 2015
Accepted: April 9, 2015
Article in press: April 9, 2015
Published online: July 7, 2015
Abstract

AIM: To evaluate the effect of an extract of Geranium schiedeanum (Gs) as a hepatoprotective agent against ethanol (EtOH)-induced toxicity in rats.

METHODS: Male Wistar rats weighing 200-230 g were subjected to a 70% partial hepatectomy (PH); they were then divided into three groups (groups 1-3). During the experiment, animals in group 1 drank only water. The other two groups (2-3) drank an aqueous solution of EtOH (40%, v/v). Additionally, rats in group 3 received a Gs extract daily at a dose of 300 mg/kg body weight intragastically. Subsequently, to identify markers of liver damage in serum, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, albumin and bilirubin were measured by colorimetric methods. Glucose, triglyceride and cholesterol concentrations were also determined. In addition, oxidative damage was estimated by measuring lipid peroxidation [using thiobarbituric-acid reactive substances (TBARS)] in both plasma and the liver and by measuring the total concentration of antioxidants in serum and the total antioxidant capacity in the liver. In addition, a liver mass gain assessment, total DNA analysis and a morpho-histological analysis of the liver from animals in all three groups were performed and compared. Finally, the number of deaths observed in the three groups was analyzed.

RESULTS: Administration of the Geranium shiedeanum extract significantly reduced the unfavorable effect of ethanol on liver regeneration (restitution liver mass: PH-EtOH group 60.68% vs PH-Gs-EtOH group 69.22%). This finding was congruent with the reduced levels of hepatic enzymes and the sustained or increased levels of albumin and decreased bilirubin in serum. The extract also modified the metabolic processes that regulate glucose and lipid levels, as observed from the serum measurements. Lower antioxidant levels and the liver damage induced by EtOH administration appeared to be mitigated by the extract, as observed from the TBARs (PH-EtOH group 200.14 mmol/mg vs PH-Gs-EtOH group 54.20 mmol/mg; P < 0.05), total status of antioxidants (PH-EtOH group 1.43 mmol/L vs PH-Gs-EtOH group 1.99 mmol/L; P < 0.05), total antioxidant capacity values, liver mass gain and total DNA determination (PH-EtOH group 4.80 mg/g vs PH-Gs-EtOH 9.10 mg/g; P < 0.05). Overall, these processes could be related to decreased mortality in these treated animals.

CONCLUSION: The administered extract showed a hepatoprotective effect, limiting the EtOH-induced hepatotoxic effects. This effect can be related to modulating oxido-reduction processes.

Keywords: Geranium schiedeanum, Liver regeneration, Ethanol, Free radicals, Nuclear factor erythroid-2-related factor 2

Core tip: The geranium is an alternative preventive agent to protect the liver from diverse substances that cause cellular damage, such as ethanol (EtOH). In this paper, according to the phytochemical studies, administering geranium and its compounds, primarily tannins, provided evidence of potentially being protective against liver damage caused by EtOH.