• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.138-143
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• 1997

Crude catechin extracts were prepared using ethyl acetate from Korean Puerariae Radix (PR) and their biological effects on the alcoholic liver damage were investigated in male Sprague-Dawley rats (6 weeks old). Ethanol (5g ethanol/kg body weight/day) administration was performed for 8 weeks and after ethanol consuming rats were treated with one or two% catechin extracts of diet for 8 weeks. At the end of experimental period, lipid hydroperoxides in liver were analyzed using a chemiluminescence-high performance liquid chromatography (CL-HPLC) method. Compared with control animals, ethanol consumed rats showed lighter body weights, lower ratios of liver/body weight, higher activities of GOT and GPT, and increased lipid hydroperoxide amount in liver. With one or two% catechin extracts treatment, GOT and GPT activities returned to normal ranges. Lipid hydroperoxide contents in liver of on or two% PR treated rats lowered to 20% or 25% respectively, compared with the levels of those ethanol consumed animals without catechin extracts treatment. Therefore, we concluded that on or two% PR crude catechins treatment could be effective for alcoholic liver damage caused by lipid peroxidation.