Pharmaceutical Biology

ISSN: 1388-0209 (Print) 1744-5116 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/iphb20

Hepatoprotective and antioxidant activities of

Tamarix nilotica flowers

Sameh AbouZid & Amany Sleem

To cite this article: Sameh AbouZid & Amany Sleem (2011) Hepatoprotective and
antioxidant activities of Tamarix nilotica flowers, Pharmaceutical Biology, 49:4, 392-395, DOI:
10.3109/13880209.2010.518971

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.3109/13880209.2010.518971

Published online: 02 Feb 2011.

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Pharmaceutical Biology, 2011; 49(4): 392–395
© 2011 Informa Healthcare USA, Inc.
ISSN 1388-0209 print/ISSN 1744-5116 online
DOI: 10.3109/13880209.2010.518971

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Hepatoprotective and antioxidant activities of Tamarix

nilotica flowers
Sameh AbouZid1 and Amany Sleem2

Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Beni-Sueif University, Beni-Sueif, Egypt, and 2Department of
1

Pharmacology, National Research Centre, Dokky, Giza, Egypt

Abstract
Context: Tamarix nilotica (Ehrenb.) Bunge (Tamaricaceae) is used in the Egyptian traditional medicine as an antiseptic
agent. This plant has been known since pharaonic times and has been mentioned in medical papyri to expel fever,
relieve headache, to draw out inflammation, and as an aphrodisiac. No scientific study is available about the biological
effect of this plant.
Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the hydro-alcoholic extract (80%) of T. nilotica flowers for hepatoprotective
and antioxidant activities.
Materials and methods: Hepatoprotective activity was assessed using carbon tetrachloride–induced hepatic injury
in rats by monitoring biochemical parameters. Antioxidant activity was evaluated in alloxan-induced diabetic
rats. Biochemical markers of hepatic damage such as serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (SGOT), serum
glutamate pyruvate transaminase (SGPT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and tissue glutathione were determined in all
groups.
Results and conclusion: Carbon tetrachloride (5 mL/kg body weight) enhanced the SGOT, SGPT, and ALP levels. There
was a marked reduction in tissue glutathione level in diabetic rats. The hydro-alcoholic extract of T. nilotica (100 mg/kg
body weight) ameliorated the adverse effects of carbon tetrachloride and returned the altered levels of biochemical
markers near to the normal levels.
Keywords: Antioxidant, hepatoprotective, in vivo, Tamaricaceae, Tamarix nilotica

Introduction from Silybum marianum (L.) Gaertn. (Asteraceae) fruits

Free radicals are involved in a number of pathological
conditions such as inflammatory diseases, atheroscle-
rosis, cerebral ischemia, AIDS, and cancer (Thomas &
Kalyanaraman, 1997). These free radicals are induced
in the human body due to environmental pollutants,
chemicals, physical stress, radiation, etc. There are sev-
eral biomolecules in the body which act as free radical
scavengers. Catalase and hydroperoxidase enzymes
are among the most important antioxidants produced
by the immune system. Consumption of antioxidants
or free radical scavengers is necessary to compensate
depletion of antioxidants of the immune system. There
is an increasing interest in the use of medicinal plants
as dietary supplements to act as antioxidants. Silymarin
and wheat germ oil are among the most widely used anti-
oxidant plant products in the pharmaceutical market.
Tamarix nilotica (Ehrenb.) Bunge (Tamaricaceae) is
a tree of 2–5 m; widespread in Egypt, growing in saline
sandy soils, on the edges of salt marshes, coastal and
inland sandy plains, and Nile banks (Boulos, 2000). The
plant is locally known as alaabal. T. nilotica has been
used in Egyptian traditional medicine as an antiseptic
agent. This plant has been known since pharaonic times
and has been mentioned in medical papyri to expel
fever, relieve headache, to draw out inflammation, and
as an aphrodisiac (Kamal, 1967). The wood yields a
locally made charcoal, also used as a fuel; the timber is
sometimes used for inferior carpentry. In our previous

Address for Correspondence: Dr. Sameh AbouZid, Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Beni-Sueif University, Beni-Sueif,
62111, Egypt. Tel.: +2-082–2317958. Fax: +2-082–2317958. E-mail: safekry@bsu.edu.eg
(Received 15 May 2010; revised 23 July 2010; accepted 24 August 2010)

392

work, T. nilotica hydro-alcoholic (80%) flower extract
showed significant in vitro antioxidant activity using 1,1-
diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl radical scavenging activity,
superoxide anion scavenging activity, and iron chelating
activity (AbouZid et al., 2008). The present work aimed to
investigate the potential in vivo antioxidant and hepato-
protective activities of T. nilotica hydro-alcoholic (80%)
flower extract in rats.
Materials and methods
Chemicals, solvents, and reagents
Ethyl alcohol (95%) was obtained from El Nasr
Pharmaceutical Chemicals, Cairo, Egypt. Carbon tet-
rachloride (Analar) and alloxan were obtained from
Sigma (St. Louis, MO, USA). Silymarin (Legalon®) was
obtained from Chemical Industries Development (CID),
Giza, Egypt; α-tocopherol acetate was obtained from
Pharco Pharmaceutical, Alexandria, Egypt, and biodiag-
nostic kits for assessment of serum glutamate oxaloac-
etate transaminase (SGOT), serum glutamate pyruvate
transaminase (SGPT), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP)
were obtained from bioMerieux (Durham, MO, USA).
Plant material
T. nilotica flowers were collected from Beni-Sueif gov-
ernorate, Egypt (Maydoum’s desert oasis) in March
2006. The plants were identified by M. Abdelhalim,
Plant Taxonomy Department, Agricultural Research
Center, Egypt. Voucher specimens were deposited in
the Herbarium of the Faculty of Pharmacy, Beni-Sueif
University, Beni-Sueif, Egypt.
Preparation of T. nilotica flower extract
The air-dried flowers of T. nilotica (2.7 kg) were ground to
a powder and extracted by maceration in 80% aqueous
ethanol. The resulting extract was filtered, concentrated
(36 g), and kept in tightly sealed sample tubes until used
for the biological study.
Animals
Albino mice (25–30 g body weight) were used for the
toxicological study. Adult male albino rats of Sprague–
Dawley strain (130–150 g body weight) were used for
hepatoprotective and antioxidant screening. The animals
were kept in standard environmental conditions, fed
with standard laboratory diet consisting of vitamin mix-
ture (1%), mineral mixture (4%), corn oil (10%), sucrose
(20%), cellulose (0.2%), casein-95% pure (10.5%), starch
(54.3%), and water ad libitum. All of the methods used in
the present study were approved by the ethics committee
of the National Research Centre, Giza, Egypt.
Toxicological study
Determination of the LD50 of the hydro-alcoholic (80%)
extract of T. nilotica was estimated according to the Karber
procedure (1931). Experiments were done to determine
the minimal dose that kills all animals (LD100) and the
© 2011 Informa Healthcare USA, Inc.
T. nilotica: hepatoprotective and antioxidant activities 393
maximal dose that fails to kill any animal. Several doses
at equal logarithmic intervals were chosen in between
these two doses; each dose was injected in a group of six
animals by subcutaneous injection. The animals were
then observed for 24 h and symptoms of toxicity and
mortality rates in each group were recorded and the LD50
were calculated.
Hepatoprotective activity
Liver damage in rats was induced by intraperitoneal injec-
tion of 5 mL/kg body weight of 25% carbon tetrachloride
in liquid paraffin (Klaassen & Plaa, 1969). Animals were
randomly divided into three groups of six animals each.
The first group received a daily oral dose of saline 1 mL/
kg body weight for 1 week (control). The second group
received a daily oral dose of 100 mg/kg body weight of
the hydro-alcoholic (80%) extract of T. nilotica flowers.
Administration of the extract was continued for 7 days.
The third group received a daily oral dose of 25 mg/kg
body weight silymarin (positive control). Blood samples
were collected on days 0, 1, 3, and 7 after the carbon tet-
rachloride injections. Whole blood was obtained from
the retro-orbital venous plexus through the eye canthus
of anesthetized rats. Serum was isolated by centrifuga-
tion. SGOT, SGPT (Thewfweld, 1974), and ALP (Kind &
King, 1954) activities were determined.
In vivo antioxidant activity
In vivo antioxidant activity of hydro-alcoholic (80%)
extract of T. nilotica flowers was determined by mea-
suring the glutathione level in the blood of alloxan-
induced diabetic rats according to Beutler et al. (1963),
using α-tocopherol as a positive control. Animals were
randomly divided into four groups, six rats each. The
first group was kept as negative control, whereas for
other groups diabetes mellitus was induced according
to Eliasson and Samet (1969). A single dose of 150 mg
alloxan/kg body weight was injected intraperitoneally
into each animal followed by an overnight fast. The sec-
ond group of diabetic rats was kept untreated; the third
group received the reference drug α-tocopherol 7.5 mg/
kg body weight; the fourth group was orally adminis-
tered hydro-alcoholic (80%) extract of T. nilotica flowers
using a dose of 100 mg/kg body weight. The rats were
kept for 1 week before the determination of glutathione
in the blood. A blood sample (0.1 mL) was hemolysed by
the addition of 0.9 mL double distilled water. One and
half milliliter of the precipitating solution was added to
the hemolysate, mixed, left for 5 min, then centrifuged at
3000 rpm for 15 min. Four milliliters of phosphate buffer
(0.3 M) were added to 1 mL of the resulting supernatant
followed by 0.5 mL of Ellman’s reagent. The optical
density was measured within 5 min at 412 nm against
blank solution. Standard glutathione solution (1 mL)
was added to 4 mL phosphate buffer (0.3 M) and 0.5 mL
Ellman’s reagent then the optical density was measured
at 412 nm against blank solution. Blood glutathione
level is calculated according to the following equation:
394 S. AbouZid and A. Sleem
Table 1. Effect of hydro-alcoholic extract of Tamarix nilotica flowers and silymarin on biochemical parameters in liver damaged rats
(n = 6).
SGOT (U/L)
Group 0 day 1 day 3 days 7 days
Control 29.4 ± 0.9 28.6 ± 0.4 136.9 ± 5.1 151.7 ± 5.9•* 31.6 ± 1.1 30.9 ± 0.7 143.9 ± 6.1 149.2 ± 5.7* 6.8 ± 0.1 7.1 ± 0.1 57.9 ± 1.8 63.4 ± 2.3•*
T. nilotica 31.6 ± 1.2 31.2 ± 0.9 62.8 ± 2.7 43.2 ± 1.5•* 28.9 ± 0.0 28.2 ± 0.7 73.1 ± 2.6 39.8 ± 1.3•*7.5 ± 0.1 7.2 ± 0.1 26.3 ± 0.9 18.9 ± 0.4•*
Silymarin 32.3 ± 1.1 30.6 ± 0.9 49.2 ± 1.3 29.7 ± 0.6• 27.8 ± 0.5 26.8 ± 0.4 56.2 ± 1.8 29.2 ± 0.8• 7.3 ± 0.1 6.9 ± 0.1 18.3 ± 0.6 6.9 ± 0.1•
*Statistically significant from zero time at p <0.01. •Statistically significant from 3 d after CCL4 at p <0.01.
Glutathione tissue absorbance of sample
 
level (mg%) absorbance of standard
37.5 2.5
  100.
1000 0.1
Statistical analysis
The data are the mean of triplicate measurements. The
results are expressed as mean ± SE (n = 6). Statistical sig-
nificance was determined by Student’s t-test with p < 0.01
considered significant.
Results and discussion
Toxicological study
In acute toxicity, the LD50 of the extract was found to be
6.4 g/kg body weight. This LD50 is categorized as unclas-
sified according to the ranking system of European
Economic Community (EC Directive 83.467 EEC, 1983).
Hepatoprotective activity
Carbon tetrachloride was used to induce liver damage
and hence enhancing the levels of SGOT, SGPT, and ALP.
Carbon tetrachloride is biotransformed by liver enzymes
to a highly reactive free radical. This free radical can lead
to lipid peroxidation, disruption of Ca2+ homeostasis,
elevation of hepatic enzymes, and finally results in cell
death (Clawson, 1989). Carbon tetrachloride has been
used in animal models to investigate chemical toxin-
induced liver damage. The extent of hepatic damage is
assessed by the increased level of cytoplasmic enzymes
(SGOT, SGPT, and ALP). Treatment with silymarin or
100 mg/kg body weight of hydro-alcoholic (80%) extract
of T. nilotica flowers has significantly brought down the
elevated levels of these biochemical parameters. Results
are reported in Table 1.
Antioxidant activity
Oxidative stress plays a significant role in many diseases
including liver damage (Kiso et al., 1984). Oxidative
stress is the state of imbalance between the level of
antioxidant defense system and production of oxygen-
derived species. It has been hypothesized that one of
the principal causes of carbon tetrachloride–induced
liver injury is formation of lipid peroxides by its free
radical derivatives. Thus, the antioxidant activity or the
inhibition of the generation of free radicals is important
in the protection against carbon tetrachloride–induced
 Pharmaceutical Biology
SGPT (U/L) ALP (KAU)
0 day 1 day 3 days 7 days 0 day 1 day 3 days 7 days
Table 2. In vivo antioxidant activity of Tamarix nilotica extract
and α-tocopherol.
Blood % Change
Group glutathione (mg%) from control
Control (1 mL saline) 36.1 ± 1.1 —
Diabetic 21.7 ± 0.4* 39.9
Diabetic, α-tocopherol 35.3 ± 0.8 2.2
(7.5 mg/kg)
Diabetic, Tamarix nilotica 34.6 ± 0.9 4.2
(100 mg/kg)
*Statistically significant difference from control group at p <0.01.
hepatopathy (Castro et al., 1974). In vivo antioxidant
activity was determined by measuring tissue glutathione
level in alloxan-induced diabetic rats. Tissue glutathi-
one level in the diabetic rats is decreased to the extent
of 60%. Treatments with α-tocopherol or T. nilotica
flower extract increased tissue glutathione levels to the
near healthy levels (Table 2). It can be argued that the
hepatoprotective effect of the hydro-alcoholic extract of
T. nilotica flowers may be at least partly due to the pre-
vention of the depletion in the tissue glutathione levels.
Conclusions
A Literature review indicated that T. nilotica contains
many phenolic and flavonoid constituents. Ethyl ester
of kampferol 3-O-β-D-glucuronide, the methyl and ethyl
esters of quercetin 3-O-β-D-glucuronide are the main
flavonoids isolated from the flowers of the plant. The
Methyl ester of ferulic acid 3-O-sulfate, coniferyl alco-
hol 4-O-sulfate, kampferol 4’-methyl ether, kampferol
3-O-β-D-glucupyranuronide, tamarixetin, tamarixetin
3-O-β-D-glucupyranuronide, and quercetin 3- O-β-D-
glucupyranuronide were isolated from the leaves of the
plant (El-Sisi et al., 1973; Nawwar et al., 1982, 1984a,
1984b; Barakat et al., 1987; AbouZid et al., 2009; Orabi
et al., 2009, 2010). In this study the in vivo antioxidant
activity of T. nilotica flowers was demonstrated. In vitro
antioxidant activity of the flowers of this plant was previ-
ously reported (AbouZid et al., 2008). There is a possibility
that the proven in vitro and in vivo antioxidant activity of
T. nilotica flowers which may be due to its phenolic con-
stituents is involved in the hepatoprotective property.
Acknowledgement
Thanks to Dr. Abdelhalim M. Mohamed, Flora Research
and Plant Taxonomy Department, Agricultural Research

Institute, Egypt for botanical identification of the plant
used in this study.
Declaration of interest
The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors
alone are responsible for the content and writing of the
paper.
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