The Protective Effects of Ethanol Extract of Wild Simulated Ginseng on Carbon Tetrachloride Induced Acute Hepatic Injury in Mouse

The wild simulated ginseng (WSG) has been effectively used in folk medicine as a remedy against hepatic disease, hypertension and arthritic disease. However, there is still lack of scientific proof about its antioxidant capability. The present study has been conducted to evaluate the protective role of the WSG ethanol extract in the CCl4-induced oxidative stress and resultant hepatic disfunction in ICR mice. The electron donating abilities and IC50 of WSG etnanol extract were 76.86 ± 1.06% and 33.3 ug/mL (that of ascobic acid was 16.5 ug/mL), respectively. Total antioxidant status of WSG extract was 2.13 ± 0.06 mmoL/mg, while the values of ascorbic acid and BHT were 3.63 ± 0.06 and 3.12 ± 0.02, respectively. ICR mice (aged 3weeks) were fed for 4 weeks on AIN-93M diet and had free access to food and water. The animals were divided into three groups: normal group (intraperitoneally (i.p) injected with PBS at 100 μL/mouse), group C; CCl4-induced and without any treatment. (i.p injected only PBS, 100 μL /mice), group G; CCl4-induced and treated with WSG (i.p injected with 5 mg WSG extract per mouse, suspended in 100 μL phosphate buffer). After the i.p. injection of WSG or PBS (5 times for 7weeks), all mice were administered CCl4 in olive oil at the last day of the experiment, except for normal group. The normal group was administered only olive oil. Determination of plasma triglyceride, total cholersterol, fasting glucose and GPT activity was performed using automatic blood analyzer. To eva- luate the protective effect against the oxidative stress, DNA fragmentation and TBARS were determined in blood leuco- cytes and RBC and hepatocyte, respectively. Body and organs weights and food intake did not show significant differe- nces among the groups. Blood total cholesterol of group G was similar to that of normal group, which was the lowest in group C. The fasting blood glucose level was the highest in normal group (205.20 ± 135.24), which were decreased in group C (134.2 ± 79.31) and group G (126.48 ± 77.05). TBARS values in a red blood cell and hepatic tisuue homo- genate were lower in group G comparing to the group C. DNA% in tail, tail length (TL) and tail moment (TM) of blood leucoocytes showed the highest values in group C (20.11 ± 2.47, 17.36 ± 2.58, 94.11 ± 12.29) and they were signifi- cantly diminished in group G (9.63 ± 1.19, 7.04 ± 1.50, 38.64 ± 7.60). In conclusion, wild simulated ginseng might be a protective agent against the oxidative stress. (Korean J Nutr 2008; 41(8): 701 ~ 710)