Antioxidant and protective effect of flavonoids from Salicornia bigelovii against CCl₄-induced acute hepatic injury in mice

To investigate the antioxidant effects and the protective effects of the flavonoids from Salicornia bigelovii on CCl₄-induced acute hepatic injury in mice, the scavenging DPPH, ABTS, hydroxyl free radicals and superoxide anion free radicals abilities of the flavonoids from S. bigelovii were studied to show its antioxidant ability in vitro. Mice with acute hepatic injury were simulated by intraperitoneal injecting CCl₄. Before simulation, mice were administered with the flavonoids everyday at doses of 75, 150, 300 mg/(kg·d) for 8 days. After that, mice in each group were sacrificed to determine the indexes including the enzyme activity of ALT, AST, ALP in the serum and MDA, GSH, CAT, SOD in the hepatic tissue. Meanwhile, the pathological changes in the hepatic tissues of each group were determined. In the experimental concentration range, the flavonoids fromS. bigelovii have a good effect on scavenging four free radicals. Compared with the simulation group, the level of serum ALT, AST, ALP and liver MDA in each dose decreased significantly, and levels of SOD, GSH rose. The level of liver CAT in high and middle dose group was higher than that in the simulation group significantly. The result of the tissue section after H.E staining showed that the damage of liver tissues in each dose had different degrees of improvement. S. bigelovii flavonois can obviously protect against CCl₄-induced acute liver injury in mice, and the protective mechanism is related to the fact that flavonoids can enhance antioxidant capacity and relieve membrane lipid per-oxidation.