Hepatoprotective Potential of Glycyrrhizin: A Critical Evaluation of Antioxidant, Anti-Inflammatory and Anti-fibrotic Evidence

2026-10-17T11:12:03+00:00

Glycyrrhizin, a triterpenoid saponin obtained principally from liquorice species such as Glycyrrhiza glabra and Glycyrrhiza uralensis, has a long history of pharmacological use in liver disorders, yet the evidential basis for its hepatoprotective reputation is unusually heterogeneous. This critical narrative review evaluates glycyrrhizin, its principal metabolite glycyrrhetinic acid, and clinically used glycyrrhizin preparations through three mechanistically connected domains: antioxidant and redox-modulating activity, control of sterile and immune-mediated inflammation, and attenuation of fibrogenesis. Literature published from 1980 to 4 August 2026 was selected from major biomedical and multidisciplinary scholarly sources, supplemented by citation searching and verification of bibliographic metadata and digital object identifiers. Across toxic, ischaemia-reperfusion, immune-mediated, metabolic and cholestatic models, glycyrrhizin repeatedly reduces aminotransferase release, lipid peroxidation and inflammatory signalling, with recurrent involvement of high-mobility group box 1, nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2/heme oxygenase-1 signalling, inflammasome-related pathways and macrophage responses. Anti-fibrotic evidence is biologically plausible but more conditional: glycyrrhetinic acid can suppress transforming growth factor-β/Smad-dependent collagen transcription and, in activated stellate cells, can also induce pro-apoptotic oxidative stress, demonstrating that redox effects are cell-state dependent rather than uniformly antioxidant. Human evidence is strongest for improvement of biochemical liver-injury markers with selected injectable glycyrrhizin derivatives and preparations; evidence for durable histological benefit, prevention of cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, transplantation or mortality remains substantially weaker. Interpretation is further complicated by oral conversion of glycyrrhizin to glycyrrhetinic acid, formulation-specific pharmacology, high preventive doses in animal studies and pseudoaldosteronism mediated by glycyrrhetinic-acid metabolites. Glycyrrhizin therefore represents a mechanistically credible hepatoprotective scaffold, but clinical translation requires formulation-specific exposure data, modern comparator-controlled trials and outcomes that extend beyond aminotransferase normalisation.

Methanol Extracts of Helianthus annuus and Bambusa vulgaris Leaves Exert Herbicidal Effects on Two Selected Weeds in vitro

2026-10-16T13:18:58+00:00

Weed control using synthetic herbicides often poses adverse consequences for the environment and human health. The integration of bioherbicides into weed management strategies has recently been introduced as an alternative. Helianthus annuus and Bambusa vulgaris have been reported to exhibit allelopathic effects on other plants. This study elucidated the phytochemicals in the methanol leaf extracts of H. annuus and B. vulgaris and evaluated their in vitro herbicidal effects on two weeds. Helianthus annuus leaf methanol extract (HALME) and Bambusa vulgaris leaf methanol extract (BVLME) were subjected to Gas Chromatography-Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID) and High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) for compound analysis. The in vitro effects of HALME and BVLME were tested on the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase, glutathione-S-transferase (GST), acetolactate synthase (ALS), thioesterase and Photosystems I and II in fresh leaf extracts of Tridax procumbens and Alternanthera sessilis weeds. The GC-FID identified Cinnamic Acid, Heliannone A, Kukukanin B, Paniculoside A, Helikauranoside A and Niranthin in HALME, and p-Coumaric acid, Iso-orientin, Luteolin, and 8-C-Glycosylapigenin in BVLME. The HPLC measured Heliannone A, Kukukanin B, Paniculoside A and Helikauranoside A in HALME, and Luteolin and 8-C-Glycosylapigenin in BVLME. Both HALME and BVLME significantly (p < 0.05) reduced SOD, catalase and GST activities in T. procumbens and A. sessilis, with effects comparable to those of glufosinate and glyphosate. BVLME, glufosinate, glyphosate and their combination significantly (p < 0.05) reduced ALS activity in A. sessilis and T. procumbens and thioesterase activity in A. sessilis relative to the control. Both extracts also reduced photosystems I and II activities in the weed extracts. These findings indicate that the tested leaf extracts influence multiple biochemical processes associated with weed metabolism and stress responses, supporting further evaluation of their herbicidal potential under whole-plant and field conditions.

International Journal of Biochemistry Research & Review

Hepatoprotective Potential of Glycyrrhizin: A Critical Evaluation of Antioxidant, Anti-Inflammatory and Anti-fibrotic Evidence

Methanol Extracts of Helianthus annuus and Bambusa vulgaris Leaves Exert Herbicidal Effects on Two Selected Weeds in vitro