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PC-40

Evaluation of the hepatoprotective effect of pre-germinated brown rice

extract against acetaminophen-induced acute liver injury

,3
Hui-Li Lin, #,1,2 Kuo-Ping Shen*

1 Department of Nursing, Meiho University, Neipu, Pingtung, Taiwan
2 Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Meiho University, Neipu, Pingtung, Taiwan
3 Department of Veterinary Medicine, Research Center for Animal Biologics, National
Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Neipu, Pingtung, Taiwan
* E-mail: shenkp@mail.npust.edu.tw

Abstract
Brown rice (Oryza sativa L.) is unrefined rice that retains more nutritional components.
Previous studies have shown that its components, such as flavonoids, phenolic acids, and
gamma-oryzanol, possess antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties associated with
hepatoprotective mechanisms. However, the hepatoprotective effects of brown rice need further
verification. Other studies have indicated that germination can significantly enhance the
bioactive compounds in brown rice. In addition, extracts of pre-germinated brown rice from
certain rice varieties have been found to exhibit potential hepatoprotective effects. Therefore,
this study chose pre-germinated brown rice (PGBR) from a typical and representative
Taiwanese cultivar, Taiken No. 9, to preliminarily evaluate its protective effect in an
acetaminophen-induced acute liver injury model using male ICR mice treated with
acetaminophen (APAP). Mice were randomly divided into six groups (n = 8 per group) and
pretreated with distilled water, N-acetylcysteine (the standard antidote), silymarin (the
hepatoprotective agent), or two different doses (25 and 125 mg/kg) of pre-germinated brown
rice extract. Twenty-four hours after pretreatment, APAP was administered via intraperitoneal
injection. Another 24 hours later, liver and blood samples were collected for analysis. The
results showed that both doses of PGBR had a tendency to reduce APAP-induced elevations in
alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) activities. Moreover,
both doses also alleviated pathological changes in liver tissue. However, Western blot analysis
indicated that the expression levels of liver antioxidant enzymes (glutathione peroxidase 1,
superoxide dismutase 2, and catalase) did not show a statistically significant difference between
the groups. These findings suggest that pre-germinated brown rice extract has potential
hepatoprotective effects; further studies are required to confirm its efficacy.

Keywords: Pre-germinated brown rice; Acetaminophen; Acute Liver Injury