The hydroethanolic Litchi chinensis leaf extract alleviate hepatic injury induced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) through inhibition of hepatic inflammation

Various medicinal plants are traditionally used in a hepatoprotective manner, like, for example, the Litchi chinensis leaf infusion that is employed in Chinese medicine as liver tonics to strengthen hepatic functioning. In this context, the present study was designed to evaluate the hepatoprotective and acute toxicological effects of hydroethanolic L. chinensis leaf extract in HepG2 cells and mice. Specifically, the cytotoxicity and hepatoprotective activities of L. chinensis leaf extract were evaluated in HepG2 cells and in vivo against carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced acute liver injury. The administration of CCl4 in mice provokes cell swelling, loss of sinusoid capillary spaces and structural disarrangement of the hepatic lobe, apoptosis and leukocyte infiltration. Further, CCl4 evokes an increase in serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels in hepatic tissue. However, Silymarin, the positive control, and the L. chinensis extract were able to restore the viability of cells treated with CCl4 at all concentrations evaluated, reduced the inflammatory parameters, TNF and IL-6, reestablished hepatic tissue morphology and did not induce acute toxicological alterations. The data obtained underscore that the extract from L. chinensis leaves features hepatoprotective activity, corroborating with ethnopharmacological use, and does not lead to acute toxicological effects.