Berberine protects liver from ethanol-induced oxidative stress and steatosis in mice.

Abstract

Alcohol consumption is customary in many cultures and it is a common human behavior worldwide. Binge ethanol and chronic alcohol consumption, two usual drinking patterns of human beings, produce a state of oxidative stress in liver and disturb the liver function. However, a safe and effective therapy for alcoholic liver disease in humans is still elusive. This study identified the natural product berberine as a potential agent for treating or preventing ethanol-induced liver injury. We demonstrated that berberine attenuated oxidative stress resulted from binge drinking in liver by reducing hepatic lipid peroxidation, glutathione exhaust and mitochondrial oxidative damage. Furthermore, berberine also prevented the oxidative stress and macrosteatosis in response to chronic ethanol exposure in mice. Either the total cytochrome P450 2E1 or the mitochondria-located cytochrome P450 2E1, which is implicated in ethanol-mediated oxidative stress, was suppressed by berberine. On the other hand, berberine significantly blunted the lipid accumulation in liver due to chronic alcohol consumption, at least partially, through restoring peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α/peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma Co-activator-1α and hepatocyte nuclear factor 4α/microsomal triglyceride transfer protein pathways. These findings suggested that berberine could serve as a potential agent for preventing or treating human alcoholic liver disease.

• Authors: Pengcheng Zhang, Dongshen Ma, Yongchen Wang, Miao Zhang, Xiaoyan Qiang, Min Liao, Xie Liu, Hui Wu, Yubin Zhang
• Journal: Food and chemical toxicology : an international journal published for the British Industrial Biological Research Association (Food Chem Toxicol) Vol. 74 Pg. 225-32 (Dec 2014) ISSN: 1873-6351 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 25455889 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Central Nervous System Depressants
• Protective Agents
• Berberine
• Ethanol

Topics

• Animals
• Apoptosis (drug effects)
• Berberine (pharmacology)
• Binge Drinking (pathology)
• Central Nervous System Depressants (antagonists & inhibitors, toxicity)
• Ethanol (antagonists & inhibitors, toxicity)
• Fatty Liver, Alcoholic (prevention & control)
• Lipid Metabolism (drug effects)
• Liver Diseases, Alcoholic (prevention & control)
• Male
• Mice
• Mice, Inbred ICR
• Mitochondria, Liver (drug effects)
• Mitochondrial Swelling (drug effects)
• Oxidative Stress (drug effects)
• Protective Agents (pharmacology)
• Signal Transduction (drug effects)