Hepatoprotective effects of berberine on carbon tetrachloride-induced acute hepatotoxicity in rats.

Abstract

Berberine is an active compound in Coptidis Rhizoma (Huanglian) with multiple pharmacological activities including antimicrobial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, cholesterol-lowering and anticancer effects. The present study aims to determine the hepatoprotective effects of berberine on serum and tissue superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels, the histology in tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced liver injury.
Sprague-Dawley rats aged seven weeks were injected intraperitoneally with 50% CCl4 in olive oil. Berberine was orally administered before or after CCl4 treatment in various groups. Twenty-four hours after CCl4 injection, serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) activities, serum and liver superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities were measured. Histological changes of liver were examined with microscopy.
Serum ALT and AST activities significantly decreased in a dose-dependent manner in both pre-treatment and post-treatment groups with berberine. Berberine increased the SOD activity in liver. Histological examination showed lowered liver damage in berberine-treated groups.
The present study demonstrates that berberine possesses hepatoprotective effects against CCl4-induced hepatotoxicity and that the effects are both preventive and curative. Berberine should have potential for developing a new drug to treat liver toxicity.

Full text

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RESEARCHOpen Access
Hepatoprotective effects of berberine on carbon
tetrachloride-induced acute hepatotoxicity in rats
Yibin Feng1*, Ka-Yu Siu1, Xingshen Ye1, Ning Wang1, Man-Fung Yuen2, Chung-Hang Leung3, Yao Tong1,
Seiichi Kobayashi4
Abstract
Background: Berberine is an active compound in Coptidis Rhizoma (Huanglian) with multiple pharmacological
activities including antimicrobial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, cholesterol-lowering and anticancer effects. The
present study aims to determine the hepatoprotective effects of berberine on serum and tissue superoxide
dismutase (SOD) levels, the histology in tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced liver injury.
Methods: Sprague-Dawley rats aged seven weeks were injected intraperitoneally with 50% CCl4in olive oil.
Berberine was orally administered before or after CCl4treatment in various groups. Twenty-four hours after CCl4
injection, serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) activities, serum and liver
superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities were measured. Histological changes of liver were examined with
microscopy.
Results: Serum ALT and AST activities significantly decreased in a dose-dependent manner in both pre-treatment
and post-treatment groups with berberine. Berberine increased the SOD activity in liver. Histological examination
showed lowered liver damage in berberine-treated groups.
Conclusion: The present study demonstrates that berberine possesses hepatoprotective effects against CCl4-
induced hepatotoxicity and that the effects are both preventive and curative. Berberine should have potential for
developing a new drug to treat liver toxicity.
Background
Liver damage induced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)
involves biotransformation of free radical derivatives,
increased lipid peroxidation and excessive cell death in
liver tissue [1,2]. This model of CCl4-induced liver
injury has been widely used in new drug development
for liver diseases.
Berberine is a plant alkaloid present in many medic-
inal herbs, such as Hydrastis canadensis, Coptidis Rhi-
zoma, Berberis aquifolium, Berberis aristata and
Berberis vulgaris [3]. Coptidis Rhizoma (Huanglian),
which is rich in berberine, exhibited hepatoprotective
effects on CCl4-induced liver injury via scavenging the
peroxidative products [4]. Antioxidative effects of Copti-
dis Rhizoma and its major active ingredient berberine
against peroxynitrite-induced kidney damage were
demonstrated in vitro and in vivo [5]. Previous studies
reported that berberine inhibited inflammation [6] and
low-density lipoprotein (LDL) oxidation [7]. Other stu-
dies found that berberine was a candidate drug for Alz-
heimer’s disease [8] and cancer [9]. Berberine exhibited
no curative action on CCl4-induced liver injury whereas
serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate
aminotransferase (AST) levels were ameliorated after
berberine treatment [10]. It is interesting that we
showed in our previously study Coptidis Rhizoma exhi-
bits curative effect of CCl4-induced liver injury in rats,
which is discrepant to the reference reports since ber-
berine is considered as the major active compound in
Coptidis Rhizoma [4]. To clarify the gap and discrepancy
among the above reports, it is necessary to do a more
systematic and comprehensive study on hepatoprotective
effects of bererbine in CCl4-induced acute liver toxicity.
The present study aims to examine the preventive and
curative effects of berberine on liver injury and serum,
* Correspondence: yfeng@hku.hk
1School of Chinese Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, 10 Sassoon
Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, China
Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
Feng et al. Chinese Medicine 2010, 5:33
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© 2010 Feng et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in
any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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tissue superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels and the tissue
histology.
Methods
Drugs and chemical reagents
Berberine, CCl4Heparin, Phenobarbital and olive oil
were obtained from Sigma (USA). ALT and AST test
kits were purchased from Stanbio (USA). SOD assay kit
was obtained from Dojindo Laboratories (Japan).
Animals
Male Sprague-Dawley rats aged 7 weeks weighing 230-
270 g were obtained from the Laboratory Animal Centre
of the University of Hong Kong. Animals were allowed to
acclimate for two days; they were fed with standard pellet
diet and water ad libitum at 20-25°C under a 12 hour
light/dark cycle. Food was withdrawn one day before the
experiment but water continued to be provided.
All animal handlings and experiment protocols com-
plied with the guidelines of the Laboratory Animal Cen-
tre of the University of Hong Kong. Animals were
processed (including drug treatment and sacrifice) in
accordance with the international guidelines for labora-
tory animals.
CCl4-induced acute liver damage model
48 animals were divided into six groups, namely Group 1:
control group, Group 2: CCl4control group, Group 3:
low dose treatment group (post-treated with berberine,
80 mg/kg), Group 4: medium dose treatment group
(post-treated with berberine, 120 mg/kg), Group 5: high
dose treatment group (post-treated with berberine,
160 mg/kg) and Group 6: preventive dose treatment
group (pre-treated with berberine, 120 mg/kg). Each
group contained eight animals. Rats from Groups 2 to 6
were intraperitoneally (ip) injected with CCl4at a dose of
1.0 ml/kg as a 50% olive oil solution while Group 1
received 1.0 ml/kg of olive oil. Berberine was suspended
in distilled water at concentrations of 80, 120 and
160 mg/kg which were orally administered through a
stomach tube to rats in Groups 3 to 5 respectively after
six hours of CCl4treatment. Rats in Group 6 were orally
administered with berberine (120 mg/kg) twice daily for
two days before CCl4treatment. The CCl4control group
(Group 2) was orally administered with distilled water of
the equivalent volume.
Twenty-four (24) hours after CCl4administration, the
animals were anesthetized with ketamine/xylazine mix-
ture (ketamine 67 mg/kg, xylazine 6 mg/kg, ip). Blood
samples were collected by cardiac puncture, placed in
heparinized tubes and centrifuged at 3000 × g (Eppen-
dorf, Germany) for 10 minutes to obtain sera which
were used to determine SOD and to test ALT and AST
activities.
Immediately after blood collection, the animals were
sacrificed by an overdose of pentobarbitone (Phenobar-
bital 200 mg/kg, ip). The liver of each rat was promptly
removed and used to determine the tissue level SOD
and for further histopathological study.
Serum ALT and AST analyses
ALT and AST activities in serum samples were mea-
sured with Stanbio kits and a UV-rate auto-analyzer
(Hitachi 736-60, Japan).
Values of the serum ALT and AST activities were
derived according to the ‘absorptivity micromolar
extinction coefficient’ of NADH at 340 nm and were
expressed in terms of unit per liter (U/L). One unit per
liter was defined as the amount of enzyme required to
oxidize one μmol/L of NADH per minute.
Measurement of serum SOD
Serum SOD was determined according to the technical
manual of the SOD assay kit-WST (Dojindo Labora-
tories, Japan).
Briefly, the assay kit utilized the mitochondrial activity
producing a water-soluble formazan dye upon reduction
with the superoxide anion. The rate of the reduction
with a superoxide anion was linearly related to the
xanthine oxidase (XO) activity and was inhibited by
SOD. Thus, the inhibition rate of XO activity deter-
mined by a colorimetric method was used to reflect the
serum SOD levels in this study.
Histopathological analysis
Liver samples were immediately collected and fixed in
10% buffered formaldehyde solution for a period of at
least 24 hours before histopathological study. Samples
were then embedded in paraffin wax with Automatic
Tissue Processor (Lipshaw, USA) and five-micron sec-
tions were prepared with a Leica RM 2016 rotary micro-
tome (Leica Instruments, China). These thin sections
were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and
mounted on glass slides with Canada balsam (Sigma,
USA). Degrees of liver damage were estimated as
described before[4] under a light microscope (Leica
Microsystems Digital Imaging, Germany) and images
were captured with a Leica DFC 280 CCD camera
(Leica, Germany) at original magnification of 10 × 10.
The grades of liver damage in different groups were
assigned in numerical scores (scale from 0 to 6).
Statistical analysis
Data were presented as mean and standard deviation
(SD). When one-way ANOVA showed significant differ-
ences among groups, Tukey’s post hoc test was used to
determine the specific pairs of groups that were statisti-
cally different. A level of P < 0.05 was considered
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statistically significant. Analysis was performed with the
software SPSS version 16.0 (SPSS Inc, USA).
Results
Effects of berberine post-treatment on serum ALT and
AST activities
Effects of berberine on serum ALT and AST activities in
rats from various treatment groups are shown in Figure 1.
After 24 hours of CCl4treatment, the serum ALT and
AST activities increased significantly (ALT: F = 11.5,
P < 0.001; AST: F = 12.8,P < 0.001). Serum ALT and AST
activities in berberine co-treatment groups of ‘Low dose’,
‘Medium dose’ and ‘High dose’ decreased significantly in a
dose-dependent manner (ALT: Low: F = 7.3, P < 0.001;
Medium: F = 10.3, P < 0.001;High: F = 11.3, P < 0.001;
AST: Low: F = 7.4, P < 0.001; Medium: F = 12.8,
P < 0.001; High: F = 13.8, P < 0.001 when compare when
CCl4group). Both medium and high doses of berberine
suppressed the ALT and AST activities up to or lower
than the level in normal rats (ALT: Medium: F = 1.2;
P = 0.254; High: F = 0.1, P = 0.906; AST: Medium: F = 0.0,
P = 0.999; High: F = 1.0, P = 0.316 when compared with
normal group)
Effects of berberine post-treatment on serum SOD
activity
Effects of berberine on serum SOD activity in various
treatment groups are shown in Figure 2. After 24 hours
of CCl4treatment, serum SOD activity decreased signifi-
cantly (F = 23.8, P < 0.001) and the serum SOD level in
berberine co-treatment groups of ‘Low’ and ‘Medium’
and ‘High’ increased significantly in a dose-dependent
manner (Low: F = 4.5, P < 0.001; Medium: F = 13.5,
P < 0.001; High: F = 22.5, P < 0.001 when compared
with CCl4group). The high dose group (160 mg/kg ber-
berine) showed normal SOD level (F = 1.4, P = 0.173
when compared with normal group) which was the best
among the three berberine treatment groups.
Effects of berberine pre-treatment on serum ALT and AST
activities
Effects of berberine pre-treatment on serum ALT and
AST activities in rats treated with CCl4at a dose of 1.0
ml/kg are shown in Figure 3. Serum ALT and AST
activities in rats pre-treated with berberine were signifi-
cantly lower than those in rats treated with CCl4(ALT:
F = 8.8, P < 0.001; AST: F = 12.0, P < 0.001).
Figure 1 Effects of berberine post-treatment on serum ALT
and AST activities in rats with CCl4-induced acute liver
damage. **P <0.001 against normal control;##P <0.001 against CCl4
control. ALT: 80 mg/kg vs 120 mg/kg, F = 3.1, P = 0.004; 120 mg/kg
vs 160 mg/kg, F = 51.0, P = 0.144; 80 mg/kg vs 160 mg/kg, F = 4.1,
P < 0.001; AST: 80 mg/kg vs 120 mg/kg, F = 5.3, P < 0.001; 120 mg/
kg vs 160 mg/kg F = 1.0, P = 0.315; 80 mg/kg vs 160 mg/kg, F =
6.3, P < 0.001; mean (SD), n = 8.
Figure 2 Effects of berberine post-treatment on serum SOD
activity in rats with CCl4-induced acute liver damage. **P
<0.001 against normal control;##P <0.001 against CCl4control and
^^P < 0.001 among three different dosages; mean (SD), n = 8. SOD:
80 mg/kg vs 120 mg/kg, F = 9.0, P < 0.001; 120 mg/kg vs 160 mg/
kg, F = 8.9, P < 0.001; 80 mg/kg vs 160 mg/kg, F = 18.0, P < 0.001;
mean (SD), n = 8.
Figure 3 Effects of berberine pre-treatment on serum ALT and
AST activities in rats with CCl4-induced acute liver damage. *P
< 0.01 vs normal control; **P <0.001 vs normal control;##P <0.001
vs CCl4control; mean (SD), n = 8.
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Effects of berberine pre-treatment on serum SOD activity
Effects of berberine pre-treatment on serum SOD activ-
ity of rats are shown in Figure 4. While the serum SOD
activity in rats from berberine pre-treatment was signifi-
cantly lower than that in normal rats (F = 12.9, P <
0.001), it was much higher than that in rats treated with
CCl4(F = 10.9, P < 0.001).
Histology
Results from the histological studies were in agreement
with the measured activities of serum enzymes. There
were no abnormalities or histological changes in the
livers of normal rats (Figure 5a). Severe hepatocyte
necrosis, inflammatory cells infiltration, fatty degenera-
tion, hemorrhage and hydropic degeneration were found
in rats 24 hours after CCl4 treatment (Figure 5b).
Vacuole generation and microvascular steatosis were
also observed. Post-treatment of berberine at 160, 120
and 80 mg/kg reduced the severity of CCl4-induced liver
intoxication (Figures 5c, d and 5e). Fatty change, necro-
sis and lymphocyte infiltration were improved in the
histological sections of berberine post-treated rats. Pre-
treatment of berberine before CCl4intoxication also
attenuated the hepatic damage induced by CCl4(Figure
5f). These results indicated the effects of berberine
against CCl4-induced acute liver damage in a dose-
dependent manner (Table 1).
Discussion
In the present study the CCl4treatment alone and post-
treatment after 24 hours caused severe acute liver
damage in rats, as evidenced by increased serum ALT
and AST activities and a decreased serum SOD level
(Figures 1 and 2). This phenomenon was confirmed by
histological changes (Figures 5a and 5b). Different from
previous report (which showed that berberine has no
curative effect on acute liver damage) [10], results from
this study suggest that post-treatment with berberine
may protect liver function. In addition, the histological
sections of rat livers post-treated with berberine in Fig-
ure 5c-e showed reduced incidence of liver lesions,
hepatocyte swelling, leukocyte infiltrations and necrosis
induced by CCl4(Figures 5a and 5b). Histological evi-
dence from this study supports the effectiveness of ber-
berine to treat liver damage caused by CCl4.
Hwang et al. reported that berberine exhibited antiox-
idant property by its ability to quench free radicals of
1,1-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl, decrease the leakage of
lactate dehydrogenase and ALT and prevent the forma-
tion of malondialdehyde induced by t-BHP [11]. Janbaz
and Gilani reported that post-treatment with berberine
(4 mg/kg) after CCl4-induced hepatotoxicity exhibited
no effect in reducing hepatic damage [10]. Sun et al.,
however, reported that berberine protected liver injury
evidenced by decreased ALT and AST activities and
that berberine’s action was focused on liver fibrosis in
CCl4-induced rats [12]. The apparent discrepancy
between the two studies may be due to the dosages,
animal species and animal models used. The present
study found that berberine had both preventive and
curative effects on CCl4-induced liver damage. More-
over, our findings suggest that dosages may be an
important factor for curative effects of berberine. The
dosage (4 mg/kg) used by Janbazour et al. was far
below the effective dosage (80-160 mg/kg) reported in
this study, which was determined according to our clini-
cal experience [13] and was similar to the dosage
reported by Sun et al. [12].
Pre-treatment of berberine significantly decreased both
serum ALT and AST activities elevated by CCl4-induced
hepatoxicity while serum SOD level significantly
decreased (Figures 3 and 4). These results demonstrate
the preventive hepatoprotective effects of berberine
against liver damage induced by CCl4, further supported
by the histological changes (Figure 5f).
Conclusion
The present study finds that berberine possesses hepato-
protective activities against CCl4-induced hepatotoxicity
in a dose-dependent manner. The heptoprotective activ-
ities are both preventive and curative. These findings
were further supported by the histological changes in
the liver. Berberine should be a lead for developing new
drugs to treat drug/chemical-induced liver toxicity.
Figure 4 Effects of berberine pre-treatment on serum SOD
activity in rats with CCl4-induced acute liver damage. **P <
0.001 vs normal control;##P <0.001 vs CCl4control; mean (SD), n = 8.
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Figure 5 Photomicrography of liver sections of rats. a. liver sections of normal rats treated with olive oil vehicle only; b. liver section of the
control rat treated with CCl4only; c. liver section of the CCl4-treated rat post-treated by berberine at 160 mg/kg; d. liver section of the CCl4-
treated rat post-treated by berberine at 120 mg/kg; e. liver section of the CCl4-treated rat post-treated by berberine at 80 mg/kg; f. liver section
of the CCl4-treated rat pre-treated by berberine at 120 mg/kg twice daily for two days (H&E stain, original magnification ×100).
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Abbreviations
ALT: alanine aminotransferase; AST: aspartate aminotransferase; CCl4: Carbon
tetrachloride; CRAE: Coptidis Rhizoma aqueous extract; H&E: hematoxylin and
eosin; ROS: reactive oxygen species; SOD: superoxide dismutase; XO:
xanthine oxidase; CCD: Charge-coupled device
Acknowledgements
This study was financially supported by grants from the Research Council of
the University of Hong Kong (200811159197, 200907176140), Pong Ding
Yueng Endowment Fund for Education & Research (20005274) and the
Research Grants Committee (RGC) of Hong Kong (764708M). The authors are
grateful to the support of Professors Yung-chi Cheng, Sun-Ping Lee, Chi-
ming Che and Allan SY Lau. The authors would also like to express special
thanks to Mr Keith Wong, Ms Cindy Lee and Mr Freddy Tsang for their
technical support.
Author details
1School of Chinese Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, 10 Sassoon
Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, China.2Department of Medicine, The
University of Hong Kong, Queen Mary Hospital, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong
SAR, China.3Department of Chemistry and Open Laboratory of Chemical
Biology of the Institute of Molecular Technology for Drug Discovery and
Synthesis, Faculty of Science, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road,
Hong Kong SAR, China.4Department of Medical Laboratory Science, Faculty
of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, Kita-12, Nishi-5, Kita-ku, Sapporo,
Japan.
Authors’ contributions
YF designed the study, conducted the experiments, analyzed the data and
drafted the manuscript. KYS, XY and NW conducted the experiments,
collected the data and helped draft the manuscript. MFY, CHL, YT and SK
interpreted the data and revised the manuscript. All authors read and
approved the final version of the manuscript.
Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Received: 20 February 2010 Accepted: 18 September 2010
Published: 18 September 2010
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Table 1 Microscopic observation on protective and preventive effects of berberine against CCl4-induced acute liver
damage in rats (n = 8)
Group Fatty
degeneration
Mean (SD)
Vacoulisation
Mean (SD)
Nuclei
Mean (SD)
Hepatocyte
necrosis
Mean (SD)
Inflammatory cells
infiltration
Mean (SD)
Central vein and
portal triad
Mean (SD)
Combined
score
Mean (SD)
Normal
CCl4
Post-treated with
berberine
80 mg/kg
120 mg/kg
160 mg/kg
Pre-treated with
berberine
120 mg/kg
0.6 (0.3)
5.5 (1.2)**
0.3 (0.2)
4.8 (0.4) **
1.3 (0.3)
0.3 (0.2) **
0.5 (0.1)
5.7 (1.9) **
0.7 (0.3)
5.5 (1.5) **
2.2 (0.6)
0.4 (0.2) **
1.2 (0.3)
4.7 (0.9)##
3.2 (1.6)##
1.7 (1.3)##
1.4 (0.9)##
2.5 (0.7)##
1.8 (0.2)##
1.2 (0.4)##
1.7 (0.3)##
1.7 (0.5)##
1.4 (0.4)##
2.2 (0.4)##
1.6 (0.8)##
1.2 (0.5)##
2.7 (1.1)##
1.8 (0.2)##
1.1 (0.4)##
1.2 (0.5)##
2.1 (0.6)##
1.5 (0.8)##
3.0 (1.3)##
1.8 (0.9)##
1.1 (0.8)##
2.1 (1.3)##
2.3 (1.6)##
1.0 (0.7)##
2.0 (1.4)##
1.5 (0.6)##
2.5 (0.4)##
2.8 (1.4)##
**P < 0.001 when compared with normal group;##P < 0.001 when compared with CCl4group. The P values higher than 0.001 were denoted after the means.
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