BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies (Jul 2021)
Protective effect of Glechoma hederacea extract against gallstone formation in rodent models
Abstract
Abstract Background Our current study aimed to evaluate the effect of an Glechoma hederacea extract (Hitrechol®) in normal rats and gallstone diseased mice to explore its underlying mechanisms. Normal rats and C57BL/6 mice with/without cholesterol gallstone were used in this study. Methods To monitor the effect of Hitrechol® on bile secretion, bile flow rates at 15 min interval until 2 h post-dosing in normal rats treated with vehicle and Hitrechol® were compared using multiple t-test with a p < 0.05 considered as statistically significant different. To further evaluate the effect of Hitrechol® against the development of gallstone in lithogenic diet treated mice, mice were treated with vehicle or Hitrechol® (QD-once daily or TID-three times daily) for 3 weeks followed by comparing the levels of bile composition among the treatment groups. In addition, the anti-oxidative biomarkers in liver and anti-inflammatory biomarkers in serum were detected and compared among all the treatment groups to evaluate the hepato-protective effect of Hitrechol®. The obtained levels of biomarkers and bile composition were compared among different treatment groups using one-way ANOVA tests followed by Tukey’s multiple comparisons with p < 0.05 considered as statistically significant. Results Despite no significant impact on the bile flow rate, Hitrechol® TID treatment dramatically decreased size and amount of gallstone crystals and total cholesterol level (p < 0.05), as well as total bile acid (p < 0.05) and several types of bile acid (p < 0.05) levels in gallstone disease model mice. Hitrechol® TID treatment could significantly decrease the frequencies of hepatocyte necrosis and lipid aggregation notably as well as increase the antioxidant enzyme level (p < 0.05) in the liver. Conclusions Our findings for the first time demonstrated the beneficial effect of Hitrechol® against gallstone via its litholytic, liver-protective and antioxidant activities.
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