Hepatoprotective and neuroprotective effect of taxifolin on hepatic encephalopathy in rats

• Published in: Metabolic brain disease Vol. 37; no. 5; pp. 1541 - 1556
• Main Authors: Okkay, Ufuk, Ferah Okkay, Irmak, Cicek, Betul, Aydin, Ismail Cagri, Ozkaraca, Mustafa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-06-2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Alzheimer's disease; Ammonia; Animal cognition; Animals; Antioxidants; Antioxidants - metabolism; Antioxidants - pharmacology; Antioxidants - therapeutic use; Anxiety; Apoptosis; Bcl-2 protein; Biochemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Brain diseases; Brain research; Caspase-3; Disabilities; Experiments; Gene expression; Hepatic encephalopathy; Hepatic Encephalopathy - metabolism; Hyperammonemia; Hyperammonemia - drug therapy; Hyperammonemia - metabolism; IL-1β; Inflammation; Interleukin 10; Liver; Liver - metabolism; Locomotor activity; Medical research; Metabolic Diseases; Metabolism; Neurology; Neuroprotection; Neuroprotective Agents - pharmacology; Neuroprotective Agents - therapeutic use; Neurosciences; NF-κB protein; Nitric-oxide synthase; Oncology; Original Article; Oxidative Stress; Pharmacology; Pharmacy; Quercetin - analogs & derivatives; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Thioacetamide; Thioacetamide - pharmacology; Tumor necrosis factor-α; Thioacetamide; Oxidative stress; Taxifolin; Inflammation; Hepatic encephalopathy; Apoptosis
• ISSN: 0885-7490; 1573-7365
• DOI: 10.1007/s11011-022-00952-3

This study was planned to assess the potential protective effects of taxifolin against thioacetamide-induced hepatic encephalopathy and subsequently to portray its behavioural results. The experimental model was induced with three doses of (200 mg/kg i.p.) thioacetamide and taxifolin (50 and 100 mg/kg, p.o.) was administered for fourteen days. Taxifolin effectively attenuated hepatic encephalopathy through decrease in AST, ALT, ALP and LDH concentrations and improvement of hyperammonemia, and increase in antioxidant capacity by decreasing MDA, ROS, and increasing CAT and GSH. In addition, the expressions of NF-κB, TNF-α, IL-1β, caspase-3 and Bax was down-regulated while IL-10 and Bcl-2 expressions were up-regulated with taxifolin treatment. The recovery was confirmed by downregulation of iNOS and 8-OHdG expressions in our immunohistochemical analysis. Taxifolin treatment reduced the disrupting role of thioacetamide as seen by corrected hyperammonemia as well as preservation of astrocyte and hepatocyte structure. Elevated plus maze and locomotor activity tests also proved that taxifolin might repeal the neurobehavioral disabilities. In conclusion, taxifolin has shown hepatoprotective and neuroprotective roles with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, as well as suppressing the excessive release of ammonia, and it eventually reversed neurobehavioral impairments.
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