Skip Navigation



ToxSci Advance Access published online on February 27, 2007
Toxicological Sciences, doi:10.1093/toxsci/kfm035
This Article
Right arrow Advance Access manuscript (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
97/1/214    most recent
kfm035v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Lim, S. T. S.
Right arrow Articles by Nerurkar, P. V.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Lim, S. T. S.
Right arrow Articles by Nerurkar, P. V.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Toxicology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Effects of Kava Alkaloid, Pipermethystine, and Kavalactones on Oxidative Stress and Cytochrome P450 in F-344 Rats

Steven T. S. Lim1, Klaus Dragull2, Chung-Shih Tang2, Harry C. Bittenbender3, Jimmy T. Efird4 and Pratibha V. Nerurkar1,*

1 Laboratory of Metabolic Disorders and Alternative Medicine 2 Department of Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering 3 Department of Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, 96822 4 Biostatistics and Data Management Facility, Asia-Pacific Institute of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases, John A. Burns School of Medicine, Honolulu, HI 96813

* Corresponding Author: Pratibha V. Nerurkar, Ph.D., Laboratory of Metabolic Disorders and Alternative Medicine, Department of Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, 1955 East-West Road, Agriculture Science Building, Room 218, Honolulu, HI 96822, Phone: (808) 956-9195, Fax: (808) 956-3542, E-mail: pratibha{at}hawaii.edu.

limsteve{at}hawaii.edu, dragull{at}hawaii.edu, tangcs{at}hawaii.edu, hcbitt{at}hawaii.edu, efird{at}pbrc.hawaii.edu, pratibha{at}hawaii.edu

Received January 22, 2007; revision received January 22, 2007; accepted February 19, 2007


  Abstract

Kava containing products remain popular in the United States and continue to be sold in health food stores and ethnic markets regardless of the fact that it was banned in Western countries such as Germany, France, Switzerland, Australia, and Canada, following reports of alleged hepatotoxicity. It is therefore critical to establish efficacy and verify adverse effects and/or herb-drug interactions for kava-kava (Piper methysticum). We have previously demonstrated that kava alkaloid, pipermethystine (PM), abundant in leaves and stem peelings, induces mitochondrial toxicity in human hepatoma cells, HepG2, as compared with the bioactive components, kavalactones (KL), abundant in the rhizome. The current study compared short-term toxic effects of PM in F-344 rats to acetone-water extracts of kava rhizome (KRE). Treatment of F-344 rats with PM (10 mg/kg) and KRE (100 mg/kg) for two weeks failed to elicit any significant changes in liver function tests or cause severe hepatic toxicity as measured by lipid peroxidation and apoptosis markers such as malonaldehyde (MDA), Bax and Bcl2, respectively. However, PM-treated rats demonstrated a significant increase in hepatic glutathione (GSH), cytosolic superoxide dismutase (Cu/Zn SOD), tumor necrosis factor {alpha} (TNF-{alpha}) mRNA expression and cytochrome (CYP) P450 2E1, and 1A2, suggesting adaptation to oxidative stress and possible drug-drug interactions.

Key Words: kava; pipermethystine; kavalactones; oxidative stress; cytochrome P450.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Integr Cancer TherHome page
S. S. Shord, K. Shah, and A. Lukose
Drug--Botanical Interactions: A Review of the Laboratory, Animal, and Human Data for 8 Common Botanicals
Integr Cancer Ther, September 1, 2009; 8(3): 208 - 227.
[Abstract] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.