Preventive Effect of Blueberry Extract on Liver Injury Induced by Carbon Tetrachloride in Mice

Abstract

The blueberry is a common fruit that is rich in nutritional value and polyphenol substances. In this study, the blueberry polyphenol content in extract was analysed by spectrophotometry. The results showed that the blueberry polyphenol content in the extract reached 52.7%. A mouse model of liver injury induced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) was established to study the preventive effect of blueberry extract (BE) on liver injury in mice and the experimental animals were examined using biochemical and molecular biological methods. Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) are important clinical liver function indicators; the changes of triglyceride (TG) and total cholesterol (TC) are observed after liver injury; interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interferon-γ (IFN-γ) are important inflammatory indexes; superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) are important changes of oxidative stress indexes. The in vivo animal experiment results showed that BE decreased the liver index of mice with liver injury, BE could reduce the AST, ALT, TG and TC levels and also could reduce the serum cytokine IL-6, TNF-α and IFN-γ levels in mice with liver injury. Moreover, BE increased the SOD activity and decreased the TBARS level in the gastric tissues of mice with liver injury. After treatment with the highest concentration of BP in liver injury mice, these levels returned close to those obtained after treatment with the standard drug of silymarin. Detection of messenger RNA (mRNA) in liver tissue showed that BE upregulated the Cu/Zn-SOD, Mn-SOD and chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) expression levels and downregulated cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 expression. The effect of BE on mice with liver injury was positively correlated with the BE concentration and was similar to that of silymarin, which is a drug for liver injury, suggesting that BE had a good preventive effect on liver injury. Thus, BE rich in polyphenols is a bioactive substance with value for development and utilization.