The European mistletoe (Viscum album L.) grown on plums extract inhibits CCl <inf>4</inf> -induced liver damage in rats

Abstract

Extracts from the European mistletoe or Viscum album L. have been known as secondary medicaments, widely used in treatment of a number of disorders. Also, they have been reported to exert certain pharmacological (e.g. cytotoxic and immunomodulatory) effects in vitro and in vivo. The in vivo effect of aqueous extracts of European mistletoe (Viscum album L.) grown on plums on biochemical parameters in rats, prior and after carbon-tetrachloride-induced hepatotoxicity was examined in this study. Three sets of experiments were conducted, applying three different concentrations of aqueous Viscum album from plum extract. Administration of CCl 4 impaired defence antioxidant mechanism, particularly by depletion of liver glutathione (GSH) content and reduction of activities of catalase (CAT) and peroxidase (Px). Induction of CCl 4 also caused high increase of lipid peroxidation (LP) and decrease of glutathione reductase (GR) levels. Pretreatment with examined Viscum album extract inhibited CCl 4 -induced liver injury by decreasing LP and increasing GSH content, bringing the levels of antioxidant enzymes to control values. CCl 4 -induced increases in serum alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST) and bilirubin were dramatically supressed by the aqeous mistletoe grown on plums extract treatment. Hepatic DNA content haven't been changed much upon treatment with Viscum extract, but certain decrease in DNA content was observed in CCl 4 treated group. What is also important, CCl 4 caused a significant increase in hepatic hydroxyproline content, compared to the control group. However, the mistletoe extract treatment attenuated this increase, indicating that examined mistletoe extracts could exhibit certain hepato-protective effect. Values of investigated parameters showed significant dosage dependence, although positive results were obtained for all examined concentrations of Viscum album L. from plum extract.