Protective effects of luteolin-7-glucoside against liver injury caused by carbon tetrachloride in rats

Ixeris chinensis (Thunb.) Nakai has been used as a Chinese folk medicine; the information on the physiological and biochemical functions of the compounds extracted from I. chinensis is still scanty. We investigated the effects of luteolin -7-glucoside (LUTG) isolated from L chinensis against liver injury caused by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4).CCl4 significantly increased the enzyme activities of glutamic pyruvic transaminase (GPT) and glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT) in blood serum, as well as the level of malondialdehyde (MDA) and 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) in liver tissue, and decreased the levels of reduced glutathione (GSH). Pretreatment with LUTG was not only able to suppress the elevation of GPT, GOT, MDA and 8-OHdG, and inhibit the reduction of GSH in a dose-dependent manner in vivo, but also reduce the damage of hepatocytes in vitro. On the other hand, we also found LUTG has strong antioxidant activity against reactive oxygen species (ROS) in vitro in a concentration-dependent manner. The hepatoprotective activity of LUTG was possibly due to its antioxidant properties, acting as scavengers of ROS. These results obtained in vivo and in vitro suggest that LUTG had protective effects against hepatic oxidative injury induced by chemicals. Further studies on the pharmaceutical functions and immunological responses of LUTG may help in the development of a clinical application.