Antioxidant and Antiapoptotic Polyphenols from Green Tea Extract Ameliorate CCl₄-Induced Acute Liver Injury in Mice

To investigate the phenolic composition, antioxidant properties, and hepatoprotective mechanisms of polyphenols from green tea extract (GTP) in carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄)-induced acute liver injury mouse model.

High-performance liquid chromatography was used to analyze the chemical composition of the extract. Antioxidant activity of GTP was assessed by O₂^∙-, OH^∙, DPPH^∙, and ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay in vitro. Sixty Kunming mice were divided into 6 groups including control, model, low-, medium-, and high-doses GTP (200, 400, 800 mg/kg) and vitamin E (250 mg/kg) groups, 10 in each group. GTP and vitamin E were administered at a level of abovementioned doses twice per day for 7 days prior to exposure to a single injection of CCl₄. Hepatoprotective effects of GTP were evaluated in a CCl₄-induced mouse model of acute liver injury, using commercial enzyme linked immunosorbent assay kits, histopathological observation, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTPNick-end labeling (TUNEL) assay and Western blot.

GTP contained 98.56 µg gallic acid equivalents per milligram extract total polyphenols, including epicatechingallate, epigallocatechin gallate, epicatechin, and epigallocatechin. Compared with the model group, low-, medium-, or high doses GTP significantly decreased serum levels of alanine aminotransferase and aspartate transaminase (P<0.01). Histopathological observation confirmed that pretreatment of GTP prevented swelling and necrosis in CCl₄-exposed hepatocytes. Hepatoprotective effects of low-, medium-, and high-dose GTP were associated with eliminating free radicals and improving superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase activity in the liver. Additionally, low-, medium-, and high-dose GTP decreased cell apoptosis in the CCl₄-exposed liver (P<0.01). Phosphorylated nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB), p53, Bcl-2 associated x protein/B-cell lymphoma/leukemia-2 gene, cytochrome C, and cleaved caspase-3 levels were downregulated compared with the model group (P<0.01).

GTP achieves hepatoprotective effects by improving hepatic antioxidant status and preventing cell apoptosis through caspase-3-dependent signaling pathways.