Determination of membrane-stabilising and antiradical activity of a complex hepatoprotective plant supplement

Introduction. The global strategy for the elimination of viral hepatitis using direct-acting antiviral drugs that was adopted in recent years allows for the elimination of viral hepatitis C in epidemiological sense while the pathomorphological changes of the liver may still linger and the functional state of the hepatocytes still needs to be reestablished. Complex herbal supplements that vary in concentrations of diverse biologically active substances provide a distinct hepatoprotective effect, affecting the links in the chain of liver damage pathogenesis. The development of new agents that demonstrate hepatoprotective effects is bound to account for the correction of the main pathogenetic mechanisms of liver damage.

The aim of our study was to quantify the membrane-stabilising and antiradical activity of the dry complex plant supplement in vitro and to establish the mechanisms of its hepatoprotective effect.

Material and methods. With the data on the high efficiency of multicomponent pharmacological agents on the one hand and the complexity of the pathogenesis of liver damage on the other hand, a complex dry plant extract was developed. The supplement was comprised of Hypecoum erectum L.; Hedysarum alpinum L.; Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch.; Calendula officinalis L.; and Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi. dry extracts. The membrane-stabilising activity of the studied extract was measured in models of peroxide and osmotic hemolysis. The degree of antioxidant activity was observed in the model biological yolk lipoprotein system by measuring the process of metal-catalysed modification of proteins. Antiradical activity was measured in relation to the stable radical of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), as well as in comparison with superoxide radicals (O₂^·-) in the non-enzymatic system phenazine methosulfate/NADH, as well as in relation to NO molecules.

Results. The experiment demonstrated that the dry extract has antiradical activity against the following generally accepted active molecules: DPPH, Fe²⁺ and O₂-. When studying all active agents for the inactivation of active oxygen forms (O₂- and NO) and Fe²⁺ ions, it was found that the complex dry extract exhibits pronounced Fe²⁺-chelating activity, characterized by O₂-binding activity (IS₅₀ = 71.1 μg/ml), exceeding such activity of quercetin and rutin.

Conclusion. While establishing the main features of the complex plant supplement, which has hepatoprotective properties, credible membrane-stabilising and antiradical activity was determined, which in its turn has led to preservation of the structural and functional plasma membrane and its restoration in vitro.