Isolamento e identificação da licochalcona A a partir da Glycyrrhiza inflata e avaliação de suas atividades citotóxica in vitro e hepatoprotetora em modelo de lesão hepática em ratos

Abstract

The natural prototypes discovery associated with methods of chemical constituents isolation and identification from new botanical sources, as well as the evaluation of pharmacological and toxicological activities of these molecules show great prospects for the new drugs rational development. In view of the high incidence of liver disease in Brazil and the world, and there are few effective drugs and able to reverse or slow the progression of these disease, the substances isolation and identification with potential hepatoprotective today is a promising area in search for new bioactive substances. Traditionally, the roots of Glycyrrhiza sp., known as licorice, are used in alternative medicine with numerous purposes, among them hepatoprotective. However, to date, there are no reports of this activity linked to licochalcona A, one majority of the substances in the roots of Glycyrrhiza inflata. In the present study evaluated the activities of licochalcone A in cell viability assays of strains fibroblast (NIH/3T3) and human hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG-2), cell adhesion HepG-2 and model of liver injury induced by bile duct ligation (BDL) in Wistar rats. In addition, we developed a methodology for determining the licochalcone A quantitative HPLC-UV, using C18 column and a mobile phase gradient of acidified water (0.1% H3PO4) and methanol (50:50 - 20:80 v/v), flow rate of 1.1 mL/min and detection wavelength at 372 nm. The licochalcone A isolated from the dried extract of the roots of G. inflata was identified by 1H and 13C NMR. The isolation had to be satisfactory, as well as the proposed methodology for quantification of this substance by HPLC-UV, which showed excellent linearity, reproducibility and accuracy. In in vitro experiments, licochalcone A showed no significant reduction in the viability of the cell line HepG-2 (IC50 > 200 μM) and NIH/3T3 (IC50 > 100 μM), as well as in cell adhesion HepG-2 experiments (IC50 > 200 μM) (p> 0.05). These data corroborate those found in the in vivo experiment, in which the licochalcone A (50 mg/kg) also showed no toxicity to the liver, since the results were not significantly different to the control group (p>0.05). Nevertheless, it has not shown the ability to promote or reduce liver damage caused by BDL, at the treatment time of the study (48 h).