Subacute effects of Centella asiatica ethanolic extract on hepatic cytochrome P450 and clinical blood chemistry in rats

Abstract

Bua bok is a plant in family Umbelliferae. It's scientific name is Centella asiatica (Linn.) Urban. In this study, stems and leaves of C. asiatica were extracted with 80% ethanol. Subacute effect of the extract was investigated on rat hepatic cytochrome P450 (CYP) involving in carcinogenic bioactivation such as CYP1A1, CYP1A2, CYP2B1/2B2, CYP2E1 and CYP3A. Effects of this extract on clinical blood chemistry and hematology were also determined. Thirty male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 3 treatment groups. Each group comprised 10 rats. Rats in the first group were given water orally once daily for 30 days, serving as a control group. The second and the third groups were given C. asiatica ethanolic extract orally at dosages of 250 mg / kg/ day and 1,000 mg / kg/ day for 30 days, respectively. At the end of the treatment period, rats were anesthesized. Blood samples were collected by heart puncture and serum samples were prepared for determininghematology and clinical blood chemistry, respectively. Microsomes were prepared from livers for enzyme assays. The results showed that C. asiatica ethanolic extract did not affect total CYP contents and the activities of CYP1A1, CYP1A2, CYP2B1/2B2, CYP2E1 and CYP3A as compared to the control group. C. asiatica ethanolic extract did not produce any changes on these following clinical blood chemistry and hematology : glucose, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine (Cr), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), total bilirubin, direct bilirubin, triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C), high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C), uric acid, electrolytes (Na, K, Cl), complete blood count (CBC), white blood cell (WBC) count, % differential WBC, platelet count, red blood cell (RBC) morphology, and RBC indices (mean corpuscular volume; MCV, mean corpuscular hemoglobin; MCH, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration; MCHC). Results from this study implied that C. asiatica should not be able to produce an increase and/or decrease risks of toxicities, mutagenicity and/or carcinogenicity from xenobiotics that are bioactivated by these CYPs. Furthermore, drug-drug interactions between C. asiatica and other drugs that are metabolized by these CYPs would not be expected. Since C. asiatica caused no harmful effects on various important organs/systems at the doses of pharmacologically active, this plant is valuable to be developed for using therapeutically in the future.