Hepatoprotection of different water extracts from Acer tegmentosum M. on CCl 4 -induced acute hepatotoxicity in mice: comparative efficacies between the extracts of boughs, twigs, and leaves

While Acer tegmentosum M. (AT) has been widely used as a popular folk remedy to prevent or treat liver diseases in Korea, the scientific evidences for the usage of AT against liver disease are poorly documented. To address this issue, we compared hepatoprotection of hot water extract (WEAT) from three parts of AT, boughs (E1), twigs (E2), and leaves (E3), on CCl4-induced acute hepatic injury in mice by way of morphometric and biochemical examination: liver function test, antioxidant enzymes activity of liver, histopathological and ultrastructural examination of liver, and antioxidant capacity (DPPH assay) of WEAT. We found that only oral intake group of WEAT-boughs showed significant differences in aspartate transaminase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT) levels and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities as compared to CCl4 control group, whereas the glutathione levels were significantly low in all WEAT-pretreated groups. Consistently, histopathological and ultrastructural findings displayed hepatoprotection in the order of WEAT-boughs >WEAT-twigs>WEAT-leaves. Collectively, these results indicate that of three WEAT, WEAT-bough extract has the highest hepatoprotection against CCl4-induced acute hepatic injury in mice via the possible regulation of antioxidant enzyme activities in liver.