Abstract
BACKGROUND: This study was designed to investigate the hepatoprotective effect of an extract from Shinzami, a variety of purple sweet potato, in rats injured by hepatic ischaemia–reperfusion (I/R).RESULTS: Pretreatment with Shinzami extract decreased the aspirate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase serum levels in our hepatic I/R rat model. The glutathione level and superoxide dismutase activity level were significantly higher in the rats pretreated with the Shinzami extract compared with the hepatic I/R rats, and the glutathione peroxidase activity level was higher in pretreated rats. The total anthocyanins extracted from Shinzami, however, only increased the superoxide dismutase activity level in the hepatic I/R rats. Rats pretreated with the Shinzami extract or anthocyanins demonstrated attenuated hepatic pathological changes, such as hepatic distortion, haemorrhage, necrosis and inflammatory cell infiltration compared with the hepatic I/R control rats.CONCLUSION: Shinzami extract and anthocyanins have a hepatoprotective effect on the liver damage induced by hepatic I/R by improving antioxidant status. Furthermore, the Shinzami extract may have a more potent effect on the antioxidant status compared with the Shinzami anthocyanins alone. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry
Funding Information
  • Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (B0012328)
  • Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (NRF 2013M3A9C4078153)

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