Open, sesame! The gateway to mitigate hepatic injury using sesamin.

The magic phrase “Open, sesame!” from the famous Arabian story, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, is familiar and popular worldwide, and may have originated from the sudden opening of the sesame capsule to spread seeds. Sesame seeds and their oil have been utilized as an important foodstuff for thousands of years. They are regarded as healthy food and widely used for their distinct taste and flavor. Sesamin is the most abundant lignan in sesame oil. It is well known for its multiple health benefits, including hypocholesterolemic activity, antihypertensive effect, anticarcinogenic potential, antiaging effect, immunoregulatory activity, hypoglycemic action, antithrombotic activity, and hepatoprotective effect. Among its various biological effects, the antioxidant activity of sesamin occupies a central role, and has been well explored in the past few decades. Sesamin has been reported to protect against alcohol and chemical-induced liver injury. It is speculated that the mechanism underlying hepatoprotection of sesamin is via suppression of the free radical-mediated process triggered by hepatotoxins. In addition to its antioxidant activity, sesamin has also been demonstrated to work synergistically with vitamin E against lipid peroxidation. Sesamin itself has little antioxidant effect, but it can be metabolized into several catechol forms in the liver. Sesamin is first metabolized to sesamin monocatechol via cytochrome P450 2C9 in human liver. Sesamin monocatechol can be further metabolized to sesamin dicatechol via cytochrome P450 2C9. These catechol metabolites have been shown to have the potent ability to scavenge superoxide radicals. Many researchers in Taiwan and Japan investigated the role of sesame oil in the attenuation of hepatic injury. A study byHsu et al revealed that parenteral sesame oil can ameliorate hepatic oxidative stress after endotoxin intoxication in rats. An additional investigation by Chang et al showed that a mixture of sesamin and schisandrin B can exert a hepatoprotective effect by improving the antioxidative capacity in rats under carbon tetrachloride-induced hepatic oxidative stress. Also, Chandrasekaran et al further demonstrated that sesame oil can maintain intracellular glutathione levels, reduce reactive oxygen species levels, and inhibit lipid peroxidation in rats with acetaminophen-induced acute liver injury. In a study that may have important implications for drug interaction and drug safety,