Ellagic Acid from the Dried Fruits of Canarium album with Antihepatitis B Activity

Abstract

The anti-HBsAg/HBeAg activity of ellagic acid from the dried fruits of Canarium album, was tested by ELISA and the cytotoxicity of ellagic acid on HepG2215 cells was detected using MTT method. The results indicate that ellagic acid at 8 μg/mL inhibited replication of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in HepG2215 cells over 8 days, Production of hepatitis B virus surface antigen and hepatitis B virus e antigen was 19.3 and 43.2 % of controls without ellagic acid. The inhibition was ellagic acid dosage dependent. The anti-HBsAg/HBeAg activity is better than that of gallic acid, regarded as effective component of anti-HBsAg/HBeAg of C. album. And ellagic acid was nontoxic to HepG2215 cells at the tested dosages. Therefore, the ellagic acid is the effective component of anti-hepatitis B from the dried fruits of C. album and had potential to be an antihepatitis medicine.