Tocopherols Protects the Liver Against Hepatotoxicity in Vivo

The liver is the largest internal organ found in the human which plays an essential role in filtering the blood from the digestive system before passing them to other parts of the body.

The liver 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 reduced partly or completely the function of the liver, including liver failure.

There is no single cause of liver diseases. Researchers suggested that virus such as hepatitis A, B, C, long-term excessive alcohol drinking and genetic mutation inherited from the parents is the major risk factors associated with the early onset of the diseases.

Some researchers suggested overweight and obesity and congenital diseases such as Hemochromatosis and Wilson’s disease also are the prevalent risk factors of liver damage and diseases.

Liver damage and disease can also be caused by long-term intake of certain medications, such as paracetamol and Illegal drugs such as cocaine.

Sadly, according to the statistic, the mortality rate infected by viral hepatitis has increased by 63% from 890,000 in 1990 to 1.45 million in 2013, according to a review of data collected in 183 countries.

Symptoms of liver diseases include persistent jaundice and gastrointestinal discomforts, abdominal pain, and swelling, leg and ankles swelling, itching, and pale color of stool.

The hepatoprotective effect is the action of the prevention of the liver against liver damage or toxicity.

Liver toxicity is a condition caused by the accumulation of toxins in the liver, leading to liver dysfunction or reduced liver function.

Acute liver toxicity is caused by short-term exposure to toxic chemicals such as an overdose of medication.

Chronic liver toxicity is due to long-term exposure to toxic substances including excessive alcohol drinking and long-term use of certain medicines.

Tocopherols are phytochemicals of which many have vitamin E activity, belonging to the group of Lipids, found abundantly in butter, egg yolk, milk fat, some vegetable, and seed or nut oils, etc.


On finding a potential phytochemical for the treatment of liver diseases, researchers examined the protective role of curcumin and α-tocopherol against oxidative stress-induced hepatotoxicity in rats upon cisplatin treatment.

The study included male Wistar rats that were divided into five groups (n = 5),
* Pre-treated with a single dose of α-tocopherol (250 mg/kg b.w.), curcumin (200 mg/kg b.w.), and combined α-tocopherol with curcumin, respectively, for 24 h prior to the administration of cisplatin.

* The Saline and Cis groups, injected with normal saline and cisplatin [20 mg/kg body weight (b.w.)],
* Cis + α-tocopherol group,

* Cis + Cur group, and

* Cis + α-tocopherol + Cur group.

According to the analysis after 72 h of the first injection, * Cisplatin revealed a significant increase of hepatic malondialdehyde (MDA) levels and a significant reduction of hepatic superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase activities compared to the saline group.

* Cis elicited a marked increase of the serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels, the liver stress markers, and demonstrated the liver pathologies including liver congestion.

* Cis demonstrated a significant increase of NADPH oxidase gene expression compared to the saline group.

* Pre-treatment with combined curcumin and α-tocopherol improved the liver enzymes, lipid peroxidation biomarker, liver histopathology, and gene expression of liver NADPH oxidase in cisplatin-treated rats.

In other words, pretreatment with curcumin and α-tocopherol inhibited the adverse effects induced by the treatment of Cis.

After talking about other factors into account, researchers said, "pre-treatment with combined curcumin and α-tocopherol can protect cisplatin-induced hepatotoxicity including the biochemical, histological and molecular aspects".

Taken altogether, tocopherols may be considered an adjunct therapy in the prevention of liver toxicity, pending the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

Intake of tocopherols 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) Hepatoprotective effect of curcumin and alpha-tocopherol against cisplatin-induced oxidative stress by Palipoch S1, Punsawad C, Koomhin P, Suwannalert P. (PubMed)