Blueberry and cranberry extracts mitigate CCL4-induced liver damage, suppressing liver fibrosis, inflammation and oxidative stress

Shynggys Sergazy; Zarina Shulgau; Yevgeniy Kamyshanskiy; Zhaxybay Zhumadilov; Elena Krivyh; Alexander Gulyayev; Mohamad Aljofan

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e15370

Blueberry and cranberry extracts mitigate CCL4-induced liver damage, suppressing liver fibrosis, inflammation and oxidative stress

Heliyon. 2023 Apr 17;9(4):e15370. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e15370. eCollection 2023 Apr.

Authors

Shynggys Sergazy^{1

2}, Zarina Shulgau¹, Yevgeniy Kamyshanskiy^{1

3}, Zhaxybay Zhumadilov², Elena Krivyh⁴, Alexander Gulyayev^{1

2}, Mohamad Aljofan^{2

5}

Affiliations

¹ National Center for Biotechnology, Astana, Kazakhstan.
² National Laboratory Astana, Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan.
³ Clinic of Medical University "MUK" NCJSC, Karaganda, Kazakhstan.
⁴ Khanty-Mansiysk State Medical Academy, Khanty-mansiysk, Russian Federation.
⁵ Department of Biomedical Sciences, School of Medicine, Nazarbayev University, Astana, 010000, Kazakhstan.

Abstract

The current study aims to evaluate potential hepatoprotective effect of lingonberry, cranberry and blueberry polyphenols on carbon tetrachloride (CCL-4)-induced acute and subacute liver injury in rats. A total of 55 male Wistar rats, divided into six experimental and control groups. With the exception of the negative control group, all groups received an intraperitoneal injection of CCl-4, twice a week for 14 days. An extract of lingonberry, cranberry, blueberry polyphenols and the positive control, silymarin were administered daily via intragastric route, for 14 consecutive days. The untreated control group showed characteristic of classical oxidative stress-mediated liver damage with vacuolization of the hepatocyte cytoplasm, infiltration by immune cells and proliferation of collagen fibers, decrease in body weight and increase in liver weight; increased levels of AST and ALT in serum, an increased lipid peroxidation in the liver. However, the use of cranberry and blueberry polyphenols significantly suppressed liver damage, exerting an effect comparable to the hepatoprotective effect of the positive control. The extracts prevented and reduced inflammatory liver damage by reducing IL-6, TNF-α and IFN-γ levels. In conclusion, blueberry and cranberry extracts have a protective effect against acute and subacute CCl4-induced hepatotoxicity in rats.

Keywords: Antioxidant; Liver fibrosis; Polyphenol; ROS.