Protective Activity of Total Polyphenols from Genista quadriflora Munby and Teucrium polium geyrii Maire in Acetaminophen-Induced Hepatotoxicity in Rats

Oxidative stress is a major cause of drug-induced hepatic diseases and several studies have demonstrated that diet supplementation with plants rich in antioxidant compounds provides a variety of health benefits in these circumstances. Genista quadriflora Munby (Gq) and Teucrium polium geyrii Maire (Tp) are known to possess antioxidant and numerous biological properties and these endemic plants are often used for dietary or medicinal applications. Herein, we evaluated the beneficial effect of rich-polyphenol fractions of Gq and Tp to prevent Acetaminophen-induced liver injury and investigated the mechanisms involved in this protective action. Rats were orally administered polyphenolic extracts from Gq or Tp (300 mg/kg) or N-acetylcysteine (NAC: 200 mg/kg) once daily for ten days prior to the single oral administration of Acetaminophen (APAP: 1 g/kg). The results show that preventive administration of polyphenolic extracts from Gq or Tp exerts a hepatoprotective influence during APAP treatment by improving transaminases leakage and liver histology and stimulating antioxidant defenses. Besides, suppression of liver CYP2E1, GSTpi and TNF-α mRNA levels, with enhancement of mitochondrial bioenergetics may contribute to the observed hepatoprotection induced by Gq and Tp extracts. The effect of Tp extract is significantly higher (1.5–2 fold) than that of Gq extract and NAC regarding the enhancement of mitochondrial functionality. Overall, this study brings the first evidence that pretreatment with these natural extracts display in vivo protective activity against APAP hepatotoxicity through improving mitochondrial bioenergetics, oxidant status, phase I and II enzymes expression and inflammatory processes probably by virtue of their high total polyphenols content.