Phytochemical Betacyanins Protects the Liver Against Injury in Vivo

The liver is the largest internal organ not only plays an essential role in filtering the blood from the digestive system before passing them to other parts of the body but also produces cholesterol, a waxy substance which aids digestion, builds cell membranes and produces vitamin D and steroid hormones.

Liver disease is a class of medical conditions characterized by reducing partly or completely the function of the liver, including liver injury.

Most common symptoms of liver injury are totally depending on the severity of the injury that affects the liver function. In serious cases of liver injury, symptoms may include jaundice, pain in your upper right abdomen, abdominal swelling, gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea and vomiting, disorientation or confusion and sleepiness.

Most common causes of liver injury include

* Overdose of certain medication, especially acetaminophen overdose. Believer, it or not, taking too much acetaminophen (Tylenol, others) is the most common cause of acute liver failure in the US.

* Overdose of some prescription medications, including antibiotics, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and anticonvulsants is also associated with liver injury.

* Overdose of herbal extracts such as green tea ECG

* Toxins
Exposure to toxic chemicals such as refrigerants and solvents for waxes and eating toxic food such as wild mushrooms may cause liver injury.

Out of many risk factors involved in liver injury, some researchers suggested alcohol intoxication, a condition of alcohol poisoning caused by excessively high levels of the recent drinking of ethanol in the blood (alcohol) may be one of the major culprits that cause the long-term injury to the liver.

Over time, excessive alcohol drinking can lead to fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis, and chronic hepatitis with liver fibrosis or cirrhosis.

The Canadian Liver Association wrote, "When the liver has too much alcohol to handle, normal liver function may be interrupted leading to a chemical imbalance. If the liver is required to detoxify alcohol continuously, liver cells may be destroyed or altered resulting in fat deposits (fatty liver), and more seriously, either inflammation (alcoholic hepatitis), and/or permanent scarring (cirrhosis).

Betacyanins are phytochemicals in the class of red and yellow indole-derived pigments, belonging to the group of Betalains, found abundantly in beets, chard, etc.

With an aim to find a potential compound for the prevention of liver injury, researchers examined the protective effect of betanin, a chemical compound found in the class of betacyanins on the liver.

In fish pretreated with 1, 2, and 4 % betanin in fodder throughout the experiment for 20 days before intraperitoneally injected with 20 % (v/v in peanut oil) CCl4 at a volume of 0.5 mL/kg body weight, researchers showed that* Injection of CCl4 induced liver injury by promoting the expression of liver CYP2E1 which has been found to increased in patient with liver disease, and oxidative stress.

* Elevated serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST)/alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activities and liver histological damage in CCl4 fish were also decreased in the treatment group.

More precisely, compared with the CCl4 control group, the betanin-treated groups exhibited reduced CYP2E1 activity, decreased malondialdehyde level, increased liver antioxidative capacity (increased glutathione level and superoxide dismutase and catalase activities).

In other words, all parameters associated with liver injury in the CCl4 group are inhibited by the administration of betanin.

Based on the finding, researchers said, " In conclusion, betanin attenuates CCl4-induced liver damage in common carp. Moreover, the inhibition of CYP2E1 activity and oxidative stress may have significant roles in the protective effect of betanin".

Taken altogether, betacyanins processed abundantly bioactive compound betanin may be considered a remedy for the prevention and treatment of liver injury, pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

Intake of betacyanins in the form of supplements should be taken with extreme care to prevent overdose acute liver toxicity.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
(1) Betanin attenuates carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced liver injury in common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) by Han J1, Gao C, Yang S, Wang J, Tan D. (PubMed)
(2) Opuntia ficus indica (L.) Mill. fruit juice protects liver from carbon tetrachloride-induced injury by Galati EM1, Mondello MR, Lauriano ER, Taviano MF, Galluzzo M, Miceli N.(PubMed)
(3) Alcohol-Related Complications by the Canadian Liver Association