Recent advances in herbal medicine for treatment of liver diseases

Figures & data

Table 1.   Herbs which are being investigated for use as hepatoprotective agents.

Plant	Plant	Major active components	Hepatoprotective activity	Type of study	Mechanism	References
Byrsocarpus coccineus	Connaraceae	Flavonols, glycosides	CCl4-induced	In vivo	Antioxidant effects	Akindele et al., 2010
Trichosanthes cucumerina	Cucurbitaceae	CucurbitacinB, cucurbitacinE	CCl4-induced	In vivo	Antioxidant effects	Sathesh et al., 2009
Eruca sativa	Brassicaceae	Fatty acids, glucoerucin, isothiocyanates	CCl4-induced	In vivo	Antioxidant effects	Alqasoumi, 2010
Alocasia indica	Araceae	Cynogenetic glycosides, Alocasin, β-lectins	CCl4 and paracetamol induced	In vivo	Antioxidant effects	Mulla et al., 2009
Forsythiae fructus	Oleaceae	Pinoresinol, saponins, flavonoids	CCl4-induced	In vivo	Antioxidative activity, inhibition of NF-κB	Kim, 2010
Polygala arvensis	Polygalaceae	Flavonoids, saponins	d-galactosamine induced	In vivo	Antioxidant effects	Dhanabal et al., 2006
Cassia fistula	Fabaceae	Anthraquinone, polyphenols	Paracetamol induced	In vivo	Antioxidant effects	Bhakta et al., 2001
Clerodendrum inerme	Verbenaceae	Iridoid glycosides, verbascoside	CCl4-induced	In vivo	Antioxidant effects	Gopal and Sengottuvelu, 2008
Adhatoda vasica	Acanthaceae	Quinazoline alkaloids, vasicine	d-galactosamine induced	In vivo	Antioxidant effects	Bhattacharyya et al., 2005
Momordica dioica	Cucurbitaceae	Flavonoids, saponins, momordicin	CCl4-induced	In vivo	Antioxidant effects	Jain et al., 2008
Amaranthus spinosus	Amaranthaceae	Flavonoids, phenolic glycosides	CCl4-induced	In vivo	Antioxidant effects	Zeashan et al., 2008
Tinospora cordifolia	Menispermaceae	Tinosporone, tinosporic acid, cordifolisides A to E	CCl4-induced; Isoniazid + Rifampicin + Pyrazinamide induced	In vivo	Antioxidant effects	Bishayi et al., 2002; Parabia et al., 2007
Nymphaea stellata	Nymphaeaceae	Flavonoids, astragalin	CCl4-induced	In vivo	Antioxidant effects	Bhandarkar and Khan, 2004
Phellinus rimosus	Hymenochaetaceae	Polyphenols	CCl4-induced	In vivo	Antioxidant effects	Ajith and Janardhanan, 2002
Cytisus scoparius	Fabaceae	Flavonoids, sparteine, scoparin	CCl4-induced	In vivo	Antioxidant effects	Raja et al., 2007
Helminthostachys zeylanica	Botrychiaceae	Flavonoids, quercetin, ugonin	CCl4-induced	In vivo	Antioxidant effects	Suja et al., 2004
Camellia oleifera	Theaceae	Tannins, ellagitannins, sesamin	CCl4-induced	In vivo	Antioxidant effects	Lee et al., 2007
Strychnos potatorum	Loganiaceae	Triterpenes, sterols, diaboline	CCl4-induced	In vivo	Antioxidant effects	Sanmugapriya and Venkataraman, 2006
Premna tomentosa	Verbanaceae	Limonene, premnones A–C	Acetaminophen induced	In vivo	Antioxidant effects	Devi et al., 2004
Lycium chinense	Solanaceae	Cerebroside, glycolipids	CCl4-induced	In vivo	Antioxidant effects and regulation of CYP2E1	Ha et al., 2005
Azadirachta indica	Meliaceae	Nimbin, nimbinin, nimbidin, azadirachtin	Paracetamol induced	In vivo	Antioxidant effects	Chattopadhyay et al., 1992; Yanpallewar et al., 2003
Vitis vinifera	Vitaceae	Resins	CCl4-induced	In vivo	Antioxidant effects	Orhan et al., 2007
Boerhaavia diffusa	Nyctaginaceae	Punarnavine, punarnavoside, liirodendrin	Thioacetamide induced	In vivo	Antioxidant effects	Rawat et al., 1997

Table 2.   List of lead molecules with hepatoprotective activity.

Isolated lead	Family	Hepatoprotective activity	References
Asiaticoside	Centella asiatica	Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)/d-galactosamine induced	Zhang et al., 2010
Cleomiscosins	Cleome viscosa	CCl4-induced; thioacetamide induced	Gupta and Dixit, 2009a,b
Puerarin	Pueraria lobata	CCl4-induced	Hwang et al., 2007
Celosin A (1) and celosin B (2)	Semen celosiae	CCl4-induced	Sun et al., 2010; Xue et al., 2010
α- and β-amyrin	Protium heptaphyllum	Paracetamol induced	Oliveira et al., 2005
Rubiadin	Rubia cordifolia	CCl4-induced	Rao et al., 2006
Dehydrocavidine	Corydalis saxicola	CCl4-induced	Wang et al., 2008
Wedelolactone	Eclipta alba	CCl4-induced	Singh et al., 2001
cichotyboside	Cichorium intybus	CCl4-induced	Ahmed et al., 2008

Figure 1.  Structures of components of silymarin: (1) silybin; (2) silychristin.

Figure 2.  Structure of glycyrrhizin.

Figure 3.  Structure of andrographolide.

Figure 4.  Structure of neoandrographolide.

Figure 5.  Structure of picroside 1.

Figure 6.  Structure of kutkoside 1.

Figure 7.  Structure of curcumin.

Figure 8.  Structure of phyllanthin.

Figure 9.  Structure of hypophyllanthin.

Figure 10.  Structure of berberine.

Figure 11.  Structure of embelin.

Figure 12.  Structure of resveratrol.

Figure 13.  Structure of acteoside.

Figure 14.  Structure of sauchinone.

Table 3.   List of herbal preparations available as hepatoprotective drugs.

Herbal preparations	Names of plants	Major constituents	Therapeutic indications	References
Legalon	Silybum marinum	Silymarin	Liver disorders, jaundice, liver cirrhosis	Mayer et al., 2005; Pradhan & Girish, 2006; Ferenci et al., 1989
Liv-52	Capparis spinosa, C intybus, S.nigrum, Terminalia arjuna, Cassia occidentalis, Achillea millefolium, Tamarix gallica	Solasodine, inulin, cichoriin, arjunolic acid, arjunine, chamazulene, tamarixin, stachydrine, achilline	Jaundice, Alcoholic liver disease, Viral hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, as adjuvant with hepatotoxic drugs	Huseini et al., 2005; Vidyashankar & Patki, 2010; Girish et al., 2009b; Vidyashankar et al., 2010
Hepatomed	P kurroa, A paniculata, Eclipta alba, C intybus, S nigrum,Phyllanthus niruri	Andrographolide, picroside, phyllanthin, hypophyllanthin, wedelolactone	Jaundice, Alcoholic liver disease, cirrhotic liver disease	Sharma et al., 1995; Ram, 2001
HD 03	C.intybus, S.nigrum, P.kurroa, A.paniculata, Tephrosia purpurea	Solasodine, inulin, cichoriin, picroside, tephrosin, andrographolide	Jaundice, Alcoholic liver disease, Viral hepatitis	Mitra et al., 1998, 2000, 2001
Kamilari	Thespesia populnea, Elettari cardamomum, Zingiber officinale, Glycyrrhiza glabra	Populneol, cineole, glycyrrhizin, zingerone, gingerols	Jaundice, Alcoholic liver disease, Viral hepatitis, liver cirrhosis	Rajesh & Latha, 2004
Livfit	E.alba, P.niruri, C.intybus, Rheum emodi, Tephrosia purpurea	Wedelolactone, phyllanthin, emodin, aloe-emodin, rhein, tephrosin	Protects liver against various hepatotoxins, promotes appetite	Gupta et al., 2004
Stimuliv	A.paniculata, P.niruri, E.alba, P.kurroa, Boerhaavia diffusa, Azadirachtica indica, Berberis aristata, Ipomoea turpethum, T.purpurea	Punarnavoside, liirodendrin, picroside,berberine, nimbin, nimbinin	Liver stimulant and tonic	Dange et al., 1992; Girish et al., 2009b
Himoliv	P.kurroa, B.diffusa, Tinospora cordifolia, A.paniculata, P.emblica	Tinsporine, tinosporide	Ayurvedic medicine for hepatic dysfunction	Bhattacharyya et al., 2003
Tefroliv	A.paniculata, E.alba, Ocimum sanctum, P.niruri, P.kurroa, Piper longum, S.nigrum, Tephrosia purpurea, Terminalia chebula	Piperine, chavicine, piperidine, Solasodine, tannic acid, Chebulinic acid	Standardized liver formulation for effective hepatic regeneration	Girish et al., 2009b

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