J Sci Food Agric. 2015 Sep 3. doi: 10.1002/jsfa.7446. [Epub ahead of print]
Author information
- 1Centro de Investigação de Montanha (CIMO), ESA, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia 1172, 5301-855, Bragança, Portugal.
Abstract
The
liver is one of the most important organs of human body, being involved
in several vital functions and regulation of physiological processes.
Given its pivotal role in the excretion of waste metabolites and drugs
detoxification, the liver is often subjected to oxidative stress that
leads to lipid peroxidation and severe cellular damage. The conventional
treatments of liver diseases such as cirrhosis, fatty liver and chronic
hepatitis are frequently inadequate due to side effects caused by
hepatotoxic chemical drugs. To overcome this problematic paradox, medicinal plants,
owing to their natural richness in phenolic compounds, have been
intensively exploited concerning their extracts and fraction composition
in order to find bioactive compounds that could be isolated and applied
in the treatment of liver ailments. The present review aimed to collect
the main results of recent studies carried out in this field and
systematize the information for a better understanding of the
hepatoprotective capacity of medicinal plants
in in vitro and in vivo systems. Generally, the assessed plant extracts
revealed good hepatoprotective properties, justifying the fractionation
and further isolation of phenolic compounds from different parts of the
plant. Twenty-five phenolic compounds, including flavonoids, lignan
compounds, phenolic acids and other phenolic compounds, have been
isolated and identified, and proved to be effective in the prevention
and/or treatment of chemically induced liver damage. In this
perspective, the use of medicinal plant extracts, fractions and phenolic
compounds seems to be a promising strategy to avoid side effects caused
by hepatotoxic chemicals. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry.
© 2015 Society of Chemical Industry.
© 2015 Society of Chemical Industry.
