Red Quinoa Bran Extracts Protects against Carbon Tetrachloride-Induced Liver Injury and Fibrosis in Mice via Activation of Antioxidative Enzyme Systems and Blocking TGF-β1 Pathway

• Published in: Nutrients Vol. 11; no. 2; p. 395
• Main Authors: Lin, Ting-An, Ke, Bo-Jun, Cheng, Cheng-Shih, Wang, Jyh-Jye, Wei, Bai-Luh, Lee, Chun-Lin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 13-02-2019; MDPI
• Subjects: Alcohol; Bile; Bran; Carbon; Carbon tetrachloride; CCL4 protein; Chenopodium formosanum Koidz; Cholesterol; Ethanol; Fibrosis; Flavonoids; Food; Free radicals; Functional foods & nutraceuticals; Gene expression; High cholesterol diet; Indigenous plants; Inflammation; Injury prevention; Laboratory animals; Liver; liver fibrosis; liver injury; Oxidation; Oxidative stress; Quinoa; red quinoa; Rutin; Smad protein; Transforming growth factor-b1; Tumor necrosis factor-TNF; Japan; Taiwan; liver fibrosis; liver injury; rutin; red quinoa; Chenopodium formosanum Koidz
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu11020395

The late stages of liver fibrosis are considered to be irreversible. Red quinoa (
Koidz), a traditional food for Taiwanese aborigines, was gradually developed as a novel supplemental food due to high dietary fibre and polyphenolic compounds. Its bran was usually regarded as the agricultural waste, but it contained a high concentration of rutin known as an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent. This study is to explore the effect of red quinoa bran extracts on the prevention of carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄)-induced liver fibrosis. BALB/c mice were intraperitoneally injected CCl₄ to induce liver fibrosis and treated with red quinoa whole seed powder, bran ethanol extracts, bran water extracts, and rutin. In the results, red quinoa powder provided more protection than rutin against CCl₄-induced oxidative stress, pro-inflammatory factor expression and fibrosis development. However, the bran ethanol extract with high rutin content provided the most liver protection and anti-fibrosis effect via blocking the tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α)/interleukin 6 (IL-6) pathway and transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-β1) pathway.