Abstract
The present study was envisaged to investigate the chemical constituents and the
intervention effects of Portulaca oleracea extract (POE) on acute alcoholic liver injury
of rats. The chemical composition of POE was detected by high performance liquid
chromatography (HPLC). Sixty male Wistar rats were divided into 6 groups: Normal
control (NC) group, acute alcoholic liver injury model group (ALI), low, medium and
high dose of POE (25, 50, 100 mg/kg) groups and bifendate (BF, 3.75 mg/kg) group.
Each group was given by intragastrical administration for 7 days. Alcoholic liver injury
was induced in the experimental model by administering 50% ethanol at 8 mL/kg
and repeated administration after 6 h, for a period of 7 days. The results showed
that pretreatment with POE significantly reduced the ethanol-elevated serum level
of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline
phosphatase (ALP) and triglyceride (TG). The activities of superoxide dismutase
(SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX) in liver were enhanced followed by
administration of POE, while the content of nitric oxide (NO) and malondialdehyde
(MDA) was found to decrease. Hepatic content of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α),
and interleukin-6 (IL-6) was also reduced by POE treatment. These results indicated
that POE could increase the antioxidant capacity and relieve the inflammatory injury
of the liver cells induced by ethanol. Meanwhile, in our study, POE reduced the
expression of miR-122, acetyl coenzyme A carboxylase (ACC) 1 mRNA and protein
and increased the expression of lipoprotein lipase (LPL) mRNA and protein in liver,
which indicated that POE could improve the lipid metabolism disorder induced by
ethanol. Our findings suggested that POE had protective effects on acute alcoholic liver injury of rats.

4.2. Chemicals and Reagents
Rutin, hesperidin, myricetin and quercetin (98% HPLC grade purity) were purchased from
Chengdu Alfa Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (Chengdu, China). HPLC grade methanol and glacial
acetic acid were obtained from Fuchen (Tianjin) Chemical Reagent Co. Ltd. (Tianjin, China).