Hepatoprotective Effect of Alcoholic and N-hexane Extracts of Crayfish Procambarus Clarkii against CCl₄-induced Damage in HepG2 Cells

ABSTRACT

This study was designed to evaluate the hepatoprotective effect of alcoholic and n-hexane extracts of crayfish Procambarus clarkii against CCl₄ (4 mM) induced toxicity in the human hepatoma cell line (HepG2). Pretreatment of HepG2 cells with increased concentrations (100, 150, and 200 µg/mL) of alcoholic or n-hexane extract of crayfish Procambarus clarkii 1 h before exposure to CCl₄ for 24 h significantly reduced the cytotoxicity induced by CCl4, enzymatic activities of alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST), and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels. Besides, the HepG2 cells pretreated either with 200 µg/ml of alcoholic or n-hexane crayfish extract 1 h before exposure to CCl₄ for 24 h showed a normal cellular morphology contradictory with apoptotic features in the cells exposed only to CCl₄. Our results revealed that alcoholic and n-hexane extracts of crayfish Procambarus clarkii exert hepatoprotective actions on HepG2 cells towards the CCl₄-induced cytotoxicity through their antioxidant action.

KEYWORDS:

• Hepatoprotective
• Procambarus clarkii
• HepG2
• carbon tetrachloride
• antioxidant

Acknowledgments

The authors express a lot of thanks to the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt for their cooperation and supplying the lab facilities. This study didn’t obtain any specific grant from funding organizations.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).