Hepatoprotective activity and free radical scavenging against induction of CCl4 in an experimental model using dendronaphthya crude extract loaded chitosan nanocarrier

The encapsulation of soft coral Dendronephthya gigantea (SCD) in biopolymers could be attributed to the nature of this extract. In the present work, chitosan nanoparticles (NCS) as natural biopolymer was prepared using sodium tripolyphosphate (TPP) via ionic gelation method and then encapsulated with SCD. Firstly, GC-MS was used to determine the components of the SCD. More than Forty-components of SCD, constituting 89.94%, were identified. Secondly, to enhance the entrapment efficiency and encapsulating degree, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) was used to cap the whole product of NSC@SCD. The entrapment efficiency of PVA-capped NSC@SCD is higher than that of NSC@SCD and reached about 96%. Physical advanced tools such as TEM, DLS, and SEM were utilized to confirm the particle shape for the formed nanocomposite, affirming that the particles originated in a spherical shape with no noticeable agglomeration. Besides, PVA was found to protect the produced nanocomposite from agglomeration and exhibit the latter homogenous structure. After that, rats with approximately the same weight were divided into seven groups and treated with different formulas to evaluate hepatoprotective activity against induction of CCl4 of the prepared nanocomposites loaded with SCD. Form the obtained resultants, it can be observed that the nanocomposite has a positive effect on the treated rats via improving in the values of catalase activity (CA), reduced glutathione (GSH), and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) with a significant decrease in malondialdehyde (MDA) values. It was also observed that the level of liver enzymes closely resembles the untreated rat group. The obtained data also proved that nanocomposite based on NSC@SCD exhibited high albumin and total protein level. Thus, It can be concluded that the extract (SCD) loaded chitosan nanoparticles (NSC) is considered a promising formula to be used in medicinal domains.