Date

2012

Author

Çelebioğlu, Hasan Ufuk

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Epilobium hirsutum L. (Onagraceae), a medicinal plant known as hairy willow herb, has been used by people all around the world for treatment or prevention of inflammation, adenoma, rectal bleeding, menstrual disorders, constipates, and prostate. It contains polyphenolics including steroids, tannins such as gallic, ellagic, and p-coumaric acids and flavonoids such as myricetin, isomyricetin, and quercetin. Polyphenols have been known for their multiple biological health benefits, including antioxidant activities. Viscum album L. (Loranthaceae), a species of mistletoe, contains lectins, polypeptides, mucilage, sugar alcohols, flavonoids, lignans, triterpenes, and phenylallyl alcohols. The leaves and twigs of Viscum album L., taken as tea, have been traditionally used for hypertension, stomachache, diarrhea, diabetes, dysuria and also as analgesic and cardiotonic agent in Anatolia, Turkey. In addition, in Europe, sterile extracts of Viscum album L. are among the most common herbal extracts applied in cancer treatment and have been used as prescription drugs, while in US, considered as dietary supplement. Flavin-containing monooxygenases are FAD-containing phase I enzymes responsible for the oxidation of wide-range of nucleophilic nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus, and selenium heteroatom-containing drugs such as tamoxifen, v methimazole and imipramine, pesticides, neurotoxins, and other chemicals using NADPH as cofactor. The aim of this study was to determine the in vivo effects of Epilobium hirsutum L. and Viscum album L. (subspecies growing on pine trees-subsp. austriacum (Wiesb.) Vollmann) on FMO activity, mRNA and protein expressions in rat liver. The water extracts of Epilobium hirsutum L. (37.5 mg/kg body weight) and Viscum album L. (10 mg/kg body weight) were injected intraperitonally (i.p) into Wistar albino rats for 9 consecutive days. Following the decapitation, the livers were removed and microsomal fractions were prepared by differential centrifugation. Rat liver microsomal FMO activity using methimazole as substrate, mRNA expression by quantitative Real-Time PCR, and protein expression by Western Blot were determined. The results showed that water extract of Epilobium hirsutum L. has no significant effect on FMO activity; however, it decreased significantly (p<0.05) FMO3 protein and mRNA expression 27.71% and 1.41 fold, respectively, compared as controls. Water extract of Viscum album L. decreased mRNA (2.56 fold), and protein expressions (27.66%) as well as enzyme activity (19%) of FMO with respect to controls. In conclusion, our current data suggest that the metabolism of xenobiotics including drug molecules by FMO-catalyzed reactions may be altered due to the changes in FMO expression and activity by medicinal plants Epilobium hirsutum L. and Viscum album L.

Subject Keywords

Medicinal plants., Monooxygenases., Protein binding., Rats., Liver

URI

http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12614548/index.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/21707

Collections

Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Thesis