earticle

영어

This study was performed to investigate the effect of enzymatic extract of Navicula incerta on alcohol-induced in HepG2 cells. Gammaglutamyl transferase (GGT) was chosen as a marker of ethanol toxicity because it is widely used in clinics. When the cells were treated with ethanol at
various concentration, there was a dose-dependent increase of GGT activity in the culture media and loss of cell viability. Pretreatment of the cells with N. incerta enzymatic extract attenuated the changes significantly. Among the N. incerta enzymatic extract, papain, pronase-E and α-
chymotrypsin attenuated the ethanol cytotoxicity effectively, whereas nutrase had no effects. It appeared to be a strong GGT inhibitor. Therefore the cytoprotective effects of N. incerta enzymatic extract could be attributed to the inhibition of GGT activity by papain, pronase-E and
α-chymotrypsin. This study suggests that GGT inhibitors including N. incerta enzymatic extract may provide a novel strategy for attenuating ethanol-induced liver damage.