Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:2.6.1.2 (alanine aminotransferase)
 26,722 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

A wide variety of medicinal herbs contain hepatotoxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs), and often cause acute and chronic liver damages in man. Liquorice, a known antihepatitis, is commonly used with PA-containing herbs concurrently, and hepatotoxicity induced by such combined uses was not pronounced. The present study is to investigate effects of glycyrrhizin (GL) and 18beta-glycyrrhetinic acid (GA), the major biologically active ingredients of liquorice, against PA-induced hepatotoxicity in rats. Single dose (35 mg/kg, i.p.) of retrorsine (RET), a typical potent hepatotoxic PA, was given to rats to induce liver injury. A single dose pretreatment with GL or GA prior to retrorsine challenge did not show hepatoprotection. However, when rats were pretreated with either GL (200 mg/kg/day, i.p.) or GA (10 mg/kg/day, i.p.) for three consecutive days prior to retrorsine exposure, the elevated serum GOT and GPT levels induced by retrorsine were significantly reduced. Serum levels of transaminases almost returned to normal (GOT: 56+/-2 (control), 104+/-5 (RET), 64+/-3 (GL + RET) and 59+/-3 (GA + RET). GPT: 40+/-2 (control), 90+/-7 (RET), 45+/-2 (GL + RET) and 45+/-4 (GA + RET) SF units/ml). Furthermore, no extensive hepatocellular damages were observed. The results demonstrated that a three-day pretreatment with either GL or GA exhibited protective effect on retrorsine-induced liver damage in rats.
 ...
PMID:The effects of pretreatment with glycyrrhizin and glycyrrhetinic acid on the retrorsine-induced hepatotoxicity in rats. 1040 Feb 87

The present study describes the ethnobotanical, phytochemical, and toxicological evaluations of Xanthium strumarium L. growing in Bangladesh. In toxicity evaluation on rats, the methanol extract of seedlings showed mortality, while both seedling and mature plant extracts raised the serum alanine transaminase and aspartate transaminase values and produced significant abnormalities in the histopathology of liver and kidney of rats. On the other hand, the aqueous soluble fraction of methanol extract of mature plant (LC50 = 0.352 microg/mL) and methanol crude extract of seedlings (LC50 = 0.656 microg/mL) demonstrated significant toxicity in the brine shrimp lethality bioassay. A total of four compounds were purified and characterized as stigmasterol (1), 11-hydroxy-11-carboxy-4-oxo-1(5),2(Z)-xanthadien-12,8-olide (2), daucosterol (3) and lasidiol-10-anisate (4). The present study suggests that X. strumarium is toxic to animal.
 ...
PMID:Ethnobotanical, phytochemical and toxicological studies of Xanthium strumarium L. 2092 10

The fruit of Xanthium strumarium L. (Cang-Er-Zi) is a traditional Chinese medicine that is used in curing nasal diseases and headache according to the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. However, clinical utilization of Xanthium strumarium is relatively limited because of its toxicity. The present investigation was carried out to evaluate the toxic effects on acute liver injury in mice of the two kaurene glycosides (atractyloside and carbxyatractyloside), which are main toxic constituents isolated from Fructus Xanthii on acute liver injury in mice. Histopathological examinations revealed that there were not obviously visible injury in lungs, heart, spleen, and the central nervous system in the mice by intraperitoneal injection of atractyloside (ATR, at the doses 50,125 and 200 mg/kg) and carbxyatractyloside (CATR, at the doses 50,100 and 150 mg/kg) for 5 days. However, it revealed extensive liver injuries compared with the normal group. In the determination of enzyme levels in serum, intraperitoneal injection of ATR and CATR resulted in significantly elevated serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), asparate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activities compared to controls. In the hepatic oxidative stress level, antioxidant-related enzyme activity assays showed that ATR and CATR administration significantly increased hepatic malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration, as well as decreased superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) activities and glutathione (GSH) concentration, and this was in good agreement with the results of serum aminotransferase activity and histopathological examinations. Taken together, our results demonstrate that kaurene glycosides induce hepatotoxicity in mice by way of its induction of oxidative stress as lipid peroxidation in liver, which merited further studies. Therefore, these toxic constituents explain, at least in part, the hepatotoxicity of X. strumarium L. in traditional medicine.
 ...
PMID:Hepatotoxicity of kaurene glycosides from Xanthium strumarium L. fruits in mice. 2169 85

Xanthium strumarium L. (Asteraceae), a traditional Chinese medicine, is prescribed to treat arthritis, bronchitis, and rhinitis. Although the plant has been used for many years, the mechanism by which it ameliorates various inflammatory diseases is not yet fully understood. To explore the anti-inflammatory mechanism of methanol extracts of X. strumarium (Xs-ME) and its therapeutic potential, we used lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated murine macrophage-like RAW264.7 cells and human monocyte-like U937 cells as well as a LPS/D-galactosamine (GalN)-induced acute hepatitis mouse model. To find the target inflammatory pathway, we used holistic immunoblotting analysis, reporter gene assays, and mRNA analysis. Xs-ME significantly suppressed the up-regulation of both the activator protein (AP)-1-mediated luciferase activity and the production of LPS-induced proinflammatory cytokines, including interleukin (IL)-1[Formula: see text], IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-[Formula: see text]. Moreover, Xs-ME strongly inhibited the phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 and U937 cells. Additionally, these results highlighted the hepatoprotective and curative effects of Xs-ME in a mouse model of LPS/D-GalN-induced acute liver injury, as assessed by elevated serum levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and histological damage. Therefore, our results strongly suggest that the ethnopharmacological roles of Xs-ME in hepatitis and other inflammatory diseases might result from its inhibitory activities on the inflammatory signaling of MAPK and AP-1.
 ...
PMID:MAPK/AP-1-Targeted Anti-Inflammatory Activities of Xanthium strumarium. 2762 14