Effects of folk medicinal plant epilobium hirsutum l. And its ingredient ellagic acid on rat liver bile acid synthesizing cyps in rats

Abstract

The phytochemical compounds are used mostly in medicine as alternative medicine. Excessive cholesterol is removed mainly through conversion to bile acids in mammals, cytochromes P450 initiate all quantitatively significant pathways of cholesterol metabolism and bile acid biosynthesis. This study was aimed to investigate the possible potency of medicinal plant Epilobium hirsutum L. (EHT) extract and its ingredient ellagic acid (EAT) on rat liver cholesterol and bile acid metabolizing enzymes. In addition to molecular studies, bioactive compound of EHT extracts was identified using Liquid Chromatograph-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS) technique. The water extracts of EHT and EAT were injected intraperitoneally as 37.5 mg/kg and 20 mg/kg for 9 days, respectively. Then, in vivo effects of the EHT and EAT extract on rat liver cholesterol and bile acid metabolizing CYPs were analyzed by determining protein and mRNA expression levels using western blotting and qRT-PCR techniques, respectively. In addition, serum cholesterol level of animals was determined. EHT caused 0.6, 0.8 and 0.6 fold decrease in protein expression of CYP7A1, CYP8B1 and CYP7B1, respectively, whereas 1.3 fold increase in protein expression of CYP27A1 was observed. EHT caused 2.1, 1.4 and 4.1 fold decrease in mRNA expression of CYP7A1, CYP27A1, CYP7B1, respectively. However, mRNA expression of CYP8B1 was decreased 2.3 fold by EHT treatment. EAT led to 0.7, 0.8 and 0.8 fold decrease in protein expression of CYP27A1, CYP8B1, CYP7B1, respectively, but one fold increase of protein expression of CYP7A1. EAT caused 2.6, 1.7, 1.8 and 2.3 fold increase in mRNA expression of CYP7A1, CYP27A1, CYP8B1 and CYP7B1, respectively. EHT-treated and EAT-treated animals also showed a significant reduction in total cholesterol level compared to control animals. Based on doses used that applied in this study, EHT and EAT is quite safe and can be used for drug development without any toxicity. © 2019, SILAE (Italo-Latin American Society of Ethnomedicine). All rights reserved.