• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.45 no.10
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• pp.1508-1512
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• 2016

This study was performed to investigate the ameliorating effect of a mixture of extracts from Houttuynia cordata Thunb, Nelumbo nucifera G. (leaf), and Camellia sinensis (seed) (MIX) on acute ethanol-induced hangover in Sprague-Dawley rats. Plasma ethanol and acetaldehyde levels in MIX-treated rats significantly decreased at 3 h and 5 h after acute ethanol administration (25%, 3 g/kg body weight/d) as compared to ethanol-treated rats. Hepatic alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) activities were significantly higher in MIX-treated rats than in ethanol-treated rats. MIX exhibited high ADH and ALDH activities on direct assays using S9 rat liver fraction for ethanol metabolic enzymes clearance action. These results suggest that MIX could alleviate ethanol-induced hangover symptoms by elevating activities related to hepatic ethanol-metabolizing enzymes against ethanol induced metabolites, and MIX should be further developed to be a new anti-hangover material.