Alcohol Metabolizing and Antioxidant Activities of Complex Herbal Extracts from Medicinal Plants

摘要

The objective of this study was to evaluate the alcohol-metabolizing and antioxidative activities of complex herbal extract (CHE). The alcohol-metabolizing activity of CHE was evaluated by assessing alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) activity, acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) activity, and protective effect against alcohol induced damage in in vitro and in vivo models. In this study, CHE treatment significantly increased ADH and ALDH activities and reduced cell death in alcohol-induced liver cell damage. Moreover, it also significantly reduced the serum alcohol and acetaldehyde concentrations in alcohol-fed rats. To define the effect of CHE on alcohol metabolism, its antioxidative activities were estimated by measuring radical scavenging activity, ferric-reducing antioxidant potential ability, and thiobarbituric acid reactive substance, and the results demonstrated a higher antioxidative capacity of CHE than the vitamin C control at a high dose (10 mg/mL). Therefore, this study suggests that CHE can be a potential natural resource for the management of ethanol-induced liver toxicity.