Preparation of total flavonoids from loquat flower and its protective effect on acute alcohol-induced liver injury in mice

This study aimed to research the preparation techniques of total flavones from loquat flower (TFLF), its anti-oxidation capacity, and its protective effect on hepatic injury. The best extraction parameters by orthogonal experimentation were water at 100 degrees C, extraction time 2.5 hours, solid/liquid ratio 1:20, and three decoctions. The chromogenic reaction to the flavones showed that loquat flowers mainly contained flavone, flavonol, and flavanone compounds combining ortho-phenolic hydroxyl group structure in the 10-30% ethanol fraction. The anti-oxidant capacity of O-2(-) center dot was 26.09% and of OH- center dot was 83.01% by salicylic acid and pyrogallol auto-oxidation. Compared with the model group, TFLF lowered the levels of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, triglyceride, and malondialdehyde and liver index significantly, and upreg-ulated the expression of adipose triglyceride lipase and Heine oxygenase-1 mRNA. The present findings suggest that TFLF has protective effect on acute alcoholinduced liver injury in mice and may be related to its antioxidant and free-radical scavenging activity. Copyright (C) 2014, Food and Drug Administration, Taiwan. Published by Elsevier Taiwan LLC. All rights reserved.