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Protective effects of chebulic acid from Terminalia chebula Retz. against t-BHP-induced oxidative stress by modulations of Nrf2 and its related enzymes in HepG2 cells

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Abstract

Although chebulic acid isolated from Terminalia chebular has diverse biological effects, its effects on the expression of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) and the expression of downstream genes have not been elucidated. The purpose of this research is to investigate the hepatoprotective mechanism of chebulic acid against oxidative stress produced by tert-butyl hydroperoxide (t-BHP) in liver cells. The treatment with chebulic acid attenuated cell death in t-BHP-induced HepG2 liver cells and increased intracellular glutathione content, upregulated the activity of heme oxygenase-1, and also increased the translocation of Nrf2 into the nucleus and Nrf2 target gene expression in a dose-dependent manner. The exposure of chebulic acid activated the phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinases. The overall result is that chebulic acid has cytoprotective effect on t-BHP-induced hepatotoxicity in HepG2 cells through Nrf2-mediated antioxidant enzymes.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a Korea University Grant (K1617111). The authors also thank the Institute of Biomedical Science and Food Safety, CJ-Korea University Food Safety Hall (Seoul, South Korea) for providing the equipment and facilities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Science and Biotechnology, Korea University, 145 Anam-ro, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, 02841, Republic of Korea

    Hye-Lim Jung, Sung-Yong Yang, Min Cheol Pyo, Chung-Oui Hong, Mi-Hyun Nam & Kwang-Won Lee

  2. Analytical Method Development Team, Samsung BIOEPIS, Incheon, 21987, Republic of Korea

    Sung-Yong Yang

  3. Department of Ophthalmology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, 80045, USA

    Mi-Hyun Nam

  4. Faculty of Health and Food/Medicinal Plant, Suwon Women’s University, Suwon, Gyeonggi-do, 16632, Republic of Korea

    Jin-Won Lee

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  1. Hye-Lim Jung
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  4. Chung-Oui Hong
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Correspondence to Kwang-Won Lee.

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Jung, HL., Yang, SY., Pyo, M.C. et al. Protective effects of chebulic acid from Terminalia chebula Retz. against t-BHP-induced oxidative stress by modulations of Nrf2 and its related enzymes in HepG2 cells. Food Sci Biotechnol 28, 555–562 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10068-018-0477-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10068-018-0477-z

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