Boron Facilitates Amelioration of Hepatic Injury by the Osmolyte Glycine and Resolves Injury by Improving the Tissue Redox Homeostasis

Abstract

Background: Glycine is a conditional non-essential amino acid in human and other mammals. It is abundant in the liver and is known for a wide spectrum of characteristics including the antioxidant, antiinflammatory, immunomodulatory, and cryoprotective effects. The amino acid is a naturally occurring osmolyte compatible with protein surface interactions and has been reported in literature as a potent therapeutic immuno-nutrient for liver diseases such as alcoholic liver disease. Oral glycine administration protects ethanol-induced liver injury, improves serum and tissue lipid profile, and alleviates hepatic injury in various conditions. In recent years, sodium salt of boron (borax) has been reported for its beneficial effects on cellular stress, including the effects on cell survival, immunity, and tissue redox state. Incidentally both glycine and boron prevent apoptosis and promote cell survival under stress. Objective: This study investigates the beneficial effect of borax on liver protection by glycine. Methods: Briefly, liver toxicity was induced in rats by a single intraperitoneal injection of thioacetamide (400 mg/kg b. wt.). Results: Significant changes in oxidative stress and liver function test parameters, the molybdenum Fe-S flavin hydroxylase activity, nitric oxide and tissue histopathology were observed in thioacetamide treated positive control group. The changes were ameliorated both by glycine as well as borax, but the combinatorial treatment yielded a better response indicating the impact of boron supplementation on glycine mediated protection of liver injury in experimental animal model. Conclusions: The study has clinical implications as the hepatotoxicity caused by thioacetamide mimics features of hepatitis C infection in human.

Keywords:

• Borax
• glutathione
• glycine
• LFT
• lipid peroxidation
• liver
• oxidative stress

Authors contributions

This research is a part of the PhD thesis of HF under the supervision of SA. HF is responsible for hands-on conduct of the experiments and data collection. FA helped with providing some essentials and intellectual inputs for research and acknowledges the Deanship of Scientific Research, Taif University for funding. DL helped with data analysis and statistics. SA designed the study including project conception, overall research plan, study oversight, and wrote the paper. He has the primary responsibility for the final content. All authors have read and approved the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

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

Data availability statement

Not applicable. All data have been provided in the results section of the manuscript.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by Taif University, Saudi Arabia, Project Number (TU-DSPP-2024-140).

Notes on contributors

Humaira Farooqui

Humaira Farooqui, PhD, is a faculty at Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi. She has contributed in the area of protein conformation, oxidative stress, and biological effects of natural compounds.

Farah Anjum

Farah Anjum, PhD, is currently employed in the Clinical Laboratory Sciences Department of Taif University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. She has expertise in protein chemistry and enzymology. Her research interests include protein folding and stability, enzyme kinetics, clinical biochemistry and bioinformatics.

Djamel Lebeche

Djamel Lebeche, PhD, FAHA, FACC, is a Professor at the Department of Physiology, a Graduate Faculty at the College of Graduate Health Sciences, and a member of the Neuroscience Institute at The University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UT HSC). His interest lies in molecular mechanisms and signalling pathways to understand the disease pathophysiology.

Shakir Ali

Shakir Ali, PhD, is a Professor of Biochemistry at the School of Chemical and Life Sciences, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi. His research is mainly focused on understanding the biochemical, cellular and molecular mechanisms of human diseases in cell and animal models and identification of key disease regulators and therapeutic substances. He is particularly interested in boron as a regulator of the innate immune response.