Extracts from Glossogyne tenuifolia can reduce hepatocyte apoptosis, hypertrophy

Researchers from Taiwan and Vietnam investigated whether or not Glossogyne tenuifolia could improve acute liver injury caused by streptozotocin-induced diabetes. The results of their study were published in the journal BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

• G. tenuifolia (hsiang ju) is used to make a traditional herbal tea in Penghu Island, Taiwan. Local residents also use it as a folk medicine due to its antipyretic, hepatoprotective and anti-inflammatory properties.
• To test its ability to protect the liver from damage, the researchers used rats fed a high-fat diet and injected them with streptozotocin-nicotinamide (STZ-NA) to induce hyperglycemia.
• They then gave the rats either a low or high dose of G. tenuifolia extracts or an anti-diabetic drug in their drinking water for four weeks.
• The researchers reported that STZ-NA increased the following:
  • Hepatomegaly
  • Hepatocyte cross-sectional area
  • Hypertrophy-related pathways (IL6/STAT3-MEK5-ERK5, NFATc3, p38 and JNK MAPK)
  • The expression of pro-apoptotic molecules (cytochrome C, cleaved caspase-3)
  • The activation of fibrosis-related pathways (FGF-2, pERK1/2)
• They also found that treatment with G. tenuifolia extracts at low or high doses decreased the expression of these pathways’ components.
• The researchers attributed the liver-protective effects of G. tenuifolia to its ability to enhance the activation of the compensatory PI3K-Akt and Bcl2 survival-related pathway.

Based on these findings, the researchers concluded that G. tenuifolia can ameliorate liver damage caused by diabetes.

Read the study at this link.

Journal Reference:

Asokan SM, Wang R-Y, Hung T-H, Lin W-T. HEPATO-PROTECTIVE EFFECTS OF GLOSSOGYNE TENUIFOLIA IN STREPTOZOTOCIN-NICOTINAMIDE-INDUCED DIABETIC RATS ON HIGH FAT DIET. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 06 June 2019;19(1). DOI: 10.1186/s12906-019-2529-1