Artichoke, Protects the Liver Cells Against Acute Alcohol-Induced Liver Injury, Studies Found

By Kyle J. Norton

Artichoke may be used as a herbal remedy for the protection liver against acute alcohol-induced liver injury, according to studies.

Acute alcohol-induced liver injury is a condition caused excessive alcohol drinking in a short term.

Acute alcohol binges have been found to induce acute liver toxicity and contribute to the chronicity of alcoholic liver disease (ALD).

The condition has been found increasingly in people aged 18–25, probably, due to severe CNS depression, which slows motor coordination and respiratory rates.

Believe it or not, over 50% of Americans consume alcohol, 23.1% of them participating in heavy and/or binge drinking at least once a month, leading to acute alcoholic liver toxicity in the initiation and progression of alcoholic liver disease.

In fact, heavy and/or binge drinking has been associated with the onset of steatosis or fatty liver caused by alcohol metabolism in the induction of liver fat accumulation.

Dr. Veronica L. Massey, the lead scientists, in the explanation of how alcoholic metabolism induced fatty liver, said, "Concentrations of alcohol can easily reach the mM range in the portal/hepatic circulation during alcohol consumption. In the process of metabolizing ethanol to acetate, two equivalents of reduced NADH are generated per equivalent of ethanol oxidized" and, "This metabolism robustly increases the ratio of NADH:NAD+ within the cell, which then inhibits the β-oxidation of fatty acids in the liver".

In other words, acute excessive alcohol drinking causes liver injury through ethanol pre-exposure in stimulating the immune response in the production of inflammatory cytokines and induction of intoxication.

Other researchers suggested that acute excessive alcohol drinking can also cause liver injury by increasing gut permeability, leading to the translocation of endotoxins into the portal blood that facilitates the intoxication.

Artichoke is a perennial thistle of Cynara cardunculus species of the Cynara genus, belonging to the family Carduoideae native to Southern Europe around the Mediterranean.

The herbal plant has been used in traditional medicine for as liver protective and detoxified agent, and to treat digestive disorders, abdominal pain gas and bloating, etc.

Researchers on finding a natural compound for the treatment of acute alcohol-induced liver damage examined the artichoke(Cynara scolymus L.) used in traditional medicine with anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory properties.

The study included mice group induced acute alcohol-induced liver injury by 40% alcohol (12 mL/kg body weight) administered orally 1 h after treated with ethanolic extract from artichoke (0.4, 0.8, and 1.6 g/kg body weight) by gavage once daily.

After 10 consecutive days of treatment, artichoke extract significantly prevented elevated levels of oxidative stress and liver damage markers, and triglyceride, total cholesterol.

Artichoke extract also normalized the levels of antioxidants enzymes which was suppressed by the alcohol injection produced by the host.

According to the histopathological assays, artichoke attenuated degeneration, inflammatory infiltration, and necrosis of liver cells.

According to the Immunohistochemical analysis, artichoke also attenuated of receptor and protein associated with the production of proinflammatory cytokines in the liver tissues.

The results clearly supported the use of artichoke extract for the prevention and protection against acute alcohol-induced liver injury.

Dr. Tang X and colleagues said, "This finding is mainly attributed to its ability to attenuate oxidative stress and suppress the TLR4/NF-κB inflammatory pathway".

In order to reveal more information about artichoke anti acute liver damage, researchers examined the results of male albino Wistar rats selected to the study.

Male albino Wistar rats were divided into four equal groups of eight animals each. The first group was assigned as a control. Groups 2-4 were orally administered with ALE (300 mg/kg bw), Cd (CdCl2, 100 mg/L drinking water), and ALE plus Cd, respectively, daily for 4 weeks.

Before the treatment of ALE, Cd treatment rats exerted an increase of liver and kidney oxidative stress compared with the control rats.

The overexpression of proinflammatory cytokines also was found to increase significantly in Cd-treated rats compared to the control accompanied by the suppressed levels of antioxidant enzymes produced by the rats.

Combination treatment, Cd and ALE significantly improved immune response in the production of inflammatory cytokines, antioxidants produced by the host system and hepatorenal function by a significant decline liver injury marker.

Taken altogether, artichoke exerted a significant anti acute liver damage through a series of mechanisms may be considered a functional remedy for the prevention and treatment of acute liver diseases, pending to the confirmation of larger sample size and multicancer human study.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

References
(1) Protective Effects of Ethanolic Extracts from Artichoke, an Edible Herbal Medicine, against Acute Alcohol-Induced Liver Injury in Mice by Tang X1, Wei R2, Deng A3, Lei T4. (PubMed)
(2) Studies on the protective effect of the artichoke (Cynara scolymus) leaf extract against cadmium toxicity-induced oxidative stress, hepatorenal damage, and immunosuppressive and hematological disorders in rats by El-Boshy M1,2, Ashshi A3, Gaith M3, Qusty N3, Bokhary T4, AlTaweel N5,6, Abdelhady M. (PubMed)
(3) Acute Alcohol-Induced Liver Injury by Veronica L. Massey1 and Gavin E. Arteel. (PMC)