The Hepatic Protective Effects Of Geniposide And Crocin On Liver-injured Mice Induced By CCl₄

The fruit of Gardenia jasminoides Eillis is frequently used as a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in therapeutic treatment of hepatic disorders including cirrhosis and jaundice. Geniposide and crocin are two major chemical components of Gardenia jasminoides Eillis. In order to study the hepatic protective effects of these two substances, we have investigated the protective effects of geniposide and crocin on liver-injured mice induced by CCl4. Then, the biochemical mechanisms were studied from two aspects, which are metabolic process of CCl4 and elimination of free radicals. The results were as follows: 1. The samples of geniposide and crocin from Gardenia asminoides Ellis were isolated by silica gel column chromatography. The purity of geniposide was 97.6%(determinated by HPLC), and the purity of crocin was 92.8%(determinated by spectrophotometry). 2. Using the liver-injured mice induced by CCl₄ as a model, the hepatic protective effects of geniposide and crocin were studied. The results showed that Geniposide has remarkable hepatic protective effect. Geniposide could suppress the increase of serum ALT and AST activities and the decrease of GSH content caused by CCl₄ remarkablely, indicating it has hepatic protective effect. But crocin has little effect. It could not markedly affect the serum ALT and AST activities and GSH content. 3. Geniposide could inhibit the activity of CYP450 2E1 of normal mice, but has little effect on CYP450 3A. Also, geniposide could increase GST and GR levels of normal mice significantly. So, the biochemical mechanism of geniposide on hepatic protective effect includes at least two ways: First, it could reduce the production of the harmful ·CCl₃ radical by decreasing the activities of CYP450 2E1; Second, It could strengthen the ability of GSH system to eliminate free radicals by increasing the activities of GR and GST.