Nutr Res Pract.  2015 Oct;9(5):466-471. 10.4162/nrp.2015.9.5.466.

Protective effects of Artemisia arborescens essential oil on oestroprogestative treatment induced hepatotoxicity

• Dhibi S
• Ettaya A
• Elfeki A
• Hfaiedh N

• KMID: 2313866
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4162/nrp.2015.9.5.466

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Currently, natural products have been shown to exhibit interesting biological and pharmacological activities and are used as chemotherapeutic agents. The purpose of this study, conducted on Wistar rats, was to evaluate the beneficial effects of Artemisia arborescens oil on oestroprogestative treatment induced damage on liver.
MATERIALS/METHODS
A total of 36 Wistar rats were divided into 4 groups; a control group (n = 9), a group of rats who received oestroprogestative treatment by intraperitoneal injection (n = 9), a group pre-treated with Artemisia arborescens then injected with oestroprogestative treatment (n = 9), and a group pre-treated with Artemisia arborescens (n = 9). To minimize the handling stress, animals from each group were sacrificed rapidly by decapitation. Blood serum was obtained by centrifugation and the livers were removed, cleaned of fat, and stored at -80degrees C until use.
RESULTS
In the current study, oestroprogestative poisoning resulted in oxidative stress, which was demonstrated by 1) a significant increase of lipid peroxidation level in hepatic tissue 2) increased levels of serum transaminases (aspartate amino transferase and serum alanine amino transferase), alkaline phosphatase, glycemia and triglycerides and a decrease in the level of cholesterol 3) alteration of hepatic architecture. Pre-administration of Artemisia arborescens oil was found to alleviate oestroprogestative treatment induced damage by lowering lipid peroxidation level and by increasing activity of catalase, superoxide-dismutase, and glutathione-peroxidase in liver and by reducing disruption of biochemical parameters.
CONCLUSION
Therefore, the results obtained in this study confirmed that Artemisia essential oil protects against oestroprogestative administration induced hepatotoxicity by restoration of liver activities.

Keyword

Oestroprogestative treatment; oxidative stress; Artemisia arborescens oil

MeSH Terms

Alanine
Alkaline Phosphatase
Animals
Artemisia*
Biological Products
Catalase
Centrifugation
Cholesterol
Decapitation
Injections, Intraperitoneal
Lipid Peroxidation
Liver
Oxidative Stress
Poisoning
Rats
Rats, Wistar
Serum
Transaminases
Transferases
Triglycerides
Alanine
Alkaline Phosphatase
Biological Products
Catalase
Cholesterol
Transaminases
Transferases
Triglycerides

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 Levels of lipid peroxidation (expressed as TBARS, nmol/mg protein) and activities (I.U/mg protein) of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPX), and catalase (CAT) in liver after 6 weeks of treatment. C: control group; E: treated group with estradiol and progesterone; AE: treatad group previously supplemented with Artemisia; A: supplemented with essential oil. the percent number in graph is the percent of difference between the mean values of two groups. Values are expressed as the mean of 9 measurements ± SD. aP ≤ 0.05 vs. treated group (E). bP ≤ 0.05 vs. control group (C). c P ≤ 0.05 vs. treated and supplemented with Artemisia arborescens group (AE). d P ≤ 0.05 vs. supplemented with Artemisia arborescens group (A)

• 

  Fig. 2 Microscopic observations of rat liver sections (H&E, A, B, C and D: 400×). (A) control group showing normal hepatic architecture. (B) oestroprogestative-Treated group showing cortico-inflammatory lesions and hyperchromatia. (C) rats received combination of oestroprogestative treatment and Artemisia oil showing marked improvement in the histological sections with well-formed polygonal hepatocytes. (D) artemisia treated group have normal strutcture similar to control.

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