• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.109-120
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• 2011

Objectives: The aim of this investigation was to evaluate the efficacy of KHchunggan-tang aqueous extract on the experimental nonalcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD) induced by palmitate. Materials and Methods: To generate a cellular model of NAFLD, we used HepG2 cells, a human hepatoma cell line, treated with 0.5 mM palmitate. By this cellular model, effects of KHchunggan-tang aqueous extract were evaluated. Intracellular lipid accumulation, free radical formation, and apoptosis were detected by Nile red staining, 2',7'-dichloroflourescin diacetate(H2DCF-DA), and 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole(DAPI)/propidium iodide(PI) staining, respectively. Some proteins related with NAFLD were determined by western blot. Results: Typical pathological features of NAFLD occurred in the cellular model. Palmitate increased the levels of intracellular lipid vacuoles, decreased cell viability, and increased apoptosis. Palmitate increased free radical formation and lipid peroxidation, too. However, KHchunggan-tang aqueous extract reduced palmitate-induced pathologic features, i.e. steatosis, free radical formation, and apoptosis. In addition, KHchunggan-tang aqueous extract suppressed palmitate-activated c-Jun N-terminal kinase(JNK) signaling, and SP600125, a JNK inhibitor, significantly reversed the palmitate-induced pathologic changes as KHchunggan-tang aqueous extract. It means that the signaling pathway other than JNK can be involved in the KHchunggan-tang mediated cellular protection of palmitate-treated Hep G2 cells. Conclusions: These results suggest that KHchunggan-tang aqueous extract has hepatoprotective effects on NAFLD with combined properties in cellular steatosis, ROS production, and cytoprotection, and thus may have valuable clinical applications for treatment of this chronic liver disease.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.533-542
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• 2012

Objectives : We try to compared the efficacy of six herbal medicines, Rhizoma Alismatis (RA), Fructus Crataegi (FC), Fructus Lycii (FL), Radix Curcumae (RC), Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae (RSM), and Herba Artemisiae Scopariae (HAS), constituting KHchunggan-tang which was previously proven to be hepatoprotective on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease with combined properties of cellular steatosis, ROS production, and cytoprotection. Methods : HepG2 cells were pretreated with aqueous extracts of the six herb medicines at concentrations of 1, 10, 50 and 100 ${\mu}g/ml$ each, and treated with 0.5 mM palmitate consecutively. After 21 hrs, cell viability was assessed using MTT assay, and the percentage of cells with sub-G1 DNA content was measured using fluorescence-activated cell sorting after propidium iodide staining. Results : The first three extracts, RA, FC, and FL restored cell viability reduced by palmitate in MTT assay, and RA, FC, FL and RC inhibited palmitate-induced apoptosis in sub-G1 analysis. FL showed relatively weak potential only at tested maximal dose, and RA showed the greatest higher efficacy on this experimental cellular model of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Conclusions : According to this comparative experiment, Rhizoma Alismatis seems to have the most powerful potential among the six herbs constituting KHchunggan-tang, and consecutive further study seems to be required for more standardized and effective clinical application of KHchunggan-tang for treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.