International Journal of Inflammation

Review Article

Liver Fibrosis and Mechanisms of the Protective Action of Medicinal Plants Targeting Inflammation and the Immune Response

Table 1

Anti-inflammatory properties of medicinal plants observed in animals treated with acute administration of a hepatotoxic agent.


Plants	Bioactive compounds and/or extracts	Animals used	Hepatotoxic agents	Anti-inflammatory mechanisms

C. longa	Curcumin	Male BALB/c mice [86]	ConA	↓TNF-α, ↓IFN-γ, ↓IL-4, ↓ICAM-1, ↓CXCL10, and ↓CD4⁺
		Male BALB/c mice [91]	ConA	↓TNF-α, ↓IFN-γ, ↑IL-10, ↑TLR2, ↑TLR4, ↑TLR9, and ↓Kupffer cells
		Male C57BL/6 mice [73]	ConA	↓TNF-α, ↓IFN-γ, and ↓HMGB1
		Male BALB/c mice [74]	ConA	↓HMGB1, ↓TNF-α, ↓IL-1β, and ↓IL-6

S. marianum	Silymarin	Male C57BL/6 mice [132]	Ethanol	↓TNF-α

G. biloba	EGB	Male Wistar rats [133]	CCl₄	↓TNF-α and ↓IL-6

S. miltiorrhiza	Polysaccharides	Kunming mice [105]	LPS + BCG	↓NF-κB, ↑PRDX6, and ↓iNOS
	Sodium tanshinone IIA sulfonate	Male C57BL/6 mice [89]	ConA	↓TNF-α, ↓IFN-γ, ↓CXCL10, ↓MIP-1α, ↓RANTES, ↓STAT1, ↓NF-κB, and ↑IκBα
	Tanshinone IIA	Male Kunming mice [103]	ConA	↑CD3⁺, ↑CD4⁺, ↑CD8⁺, ↓IL-2, ↓IL-4, ↓IFN-γ, ↓TNF-α, and ↑IL-10
	Salvianolic acid A	Male SD rats [134]	CCl₄	↓TNF-α

G. glabra	Glycyrrhizin	Male C57BL/6 (H-2b) mice [135]	ConA	↑IL-10
		Male ICR mice [128]	CCl₄	↓TNF-α, ↓iNOS, ↓COX-2, and ↑HO-1
		Male BALB/c mice [136]	LPS + D-GalN	↓IL-18
		Male BALB/c mice [92]	ConA	↓iNOS, ↓neutrophils, and ↓macrophages
		Male SD rats [75]	I/R	↓HMGB1

S. baicalensis	Baicalin	Male BALB/c mice [137]	ConA	↓TNF-α, ↓IL-6, and ↓IFN-γ
		Male ICR mice [129]	CCl₄	↓TNF-α, ↓iNOS, and ↑HO-1
		BALB/c mice [106]	LPS + D-GalN and TNF-α + D-GalN	↓TNF-α, ↓NF-κB p65, and ↑HO-1
		Male SD rats [107]	I/R	↓TNF-α, ↓IL-6, ↓iNOS, ↓COX-2, ↑HO-1, ↓NF-κB p65, and ↑IκBα

Phyllanthus species	Ethanolic extract of fruits from P. emblica	Male Wistar rats [138]	Ethanol	↓IL-1β
	P. urinaria koreanis	C57BL/6 mice [108]	MCD	↓TNF-α, ↓IL-6, ↓p-JNK, and ↓NF-κB p65
	Ethanolic extract of P. rheedii	Wistar rats [139]	D-GalN	↓TNF-α
	Aqueous extract of P. amarus	Male Wistar rats [140]	Ethanol	↓TNF-α

B. aristata	Berberine	Male BALB/c mice [141]	CCl₄	↓TNF-α, ↓iNOS, and ↓COX-2

P. kurroa	Picroliv	Male SD rats [93]	I/R	↓IL-1α, ↓IL-1β, and ↓neutrophils

Ginseng species	20(S)-ginsenoside Rg3	Male Wistar rats [109]	LPS	↓NF-κB p65, ↓iNOS, ↓COX-2, and ↑HO-1
	Ginsenoside Rd	Male ICR mice [142]	LPS	↓iNOS and ↓COX-2
	Ginsenoside Rg1	Male C57BL/6 mice [87]	ConA	↓TNF-α, ↓IFN-γ, ↓IL-6, ↓NF-κB, ↑IκBα, ↓NF-κB p65, ↓CD4⁺, ↓CD8⁺, ↓ICAM-1, and ↓CXCL10

A. paniculata	andrographolide	Male C57BL/6 mice [94]	CCl₄	↓TNF-α, ↑HO-1, and ↓lymphocytes

Coffeespecies	Caffeine, nicotinic acid, and nonsubstituted pyrazinoic acid	Male Wistar rats [143]	LPS + D-GalN	↓TNF-α and ↑IL-10
Coffeespecies	Chlorogenic acid	Male SD rats [76]	I/R	↓TNF-α, ↓iNOS, ↓COX-2, ↑HO-1, ↑Nrf2, ↓NF-κB p65, ↓HMGB1, ↓IRF-1, and ↓TLR4

Note: : inhibitory effect, : inductor effect, BCG: Bacille Calmette-Guérin, CCl₄: carbon tetrachloride, CD3⁺: cluster of differentiation 3 T-lymphocytes, CD4⁺: cluster of differentiation 4 T-lymphocytes, CD8⁺: cluster of differentiation 8 T-lymphocytes, ConA: concanavalin, COX-2: cyclooxygenase-2, CXCL10: interferon gamma-induced protein-10, D-GalN: D-galactosamine, EGB: G. biloba extract, standardized extract of the leaves of G. biloba, a mixture mainly composed of flavonoid glycosides (24%) and terpenoides (6%), including ginkgolides and bilobalide, HMGB1: high mobility group protein B1, HO-1: heme oxygenase-1, I/R: ischemia/reperfusion, IκBα: IkappaBalpha (NF-κB inhibitor), ICAM-1: intracellular adhesion molecule-1, IFN-γ: interferon gamma, IL: interleukin, iNOS: inducible nitric oxide synthase, IRF-1: interferon regulatory factor 1, LPS: lipopolysaccharides, MCD: methionine and choline deficient diet, MIP-1α: macrophage inflammatory protein-1 alpha, NF-κB: nuclear factor kappaB, NF-κB p65: p65 subunit of nuclear factor kappaB, Nrf2: nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2, p-JNK: phosphorylated c-Jun N-terminal kinases, PRDX6: peroxiredoxin 6, RANTES: regulated on activation, normal T cell expressed and secreted, SD: Sprague-Dawley, STAT1: signal transducers and activators of transcription 1, TLR: Toll-like receptor, and TNF-α: tumor necrosis factor alpha.