There are four phylogenetic sweetgum species known in the world “
L. orientalis Mill.,
L. formosana Hance,
L. styraciflua and
L. acalycina”.
Liquidambar spp. trees are important natural resources containing beneficial compounds with medicinal and many other economic values. The resinous essence obtained by scraping the bark of the
Liquidambar spp. tree and essential oils obtained from its leaves have been used in medical treatment for many years (
Gürbüz et al., 2013).
Liquidambar orientalis (
L. orientalis, Sweetgum, Akgunluk) is a relict endemic plant that grows in the southwest of Turkey, especially in the Marmaris and Koycegiz regions. Both the resin obtained by scraping the bark and the essential oils obtained from the leaves have been used for centuries by people in this region for cough, skin and stomach complaints.
L. orientalis oil is actually a plant sap obtained from bark of this tree by scraping and is also called styrax, storax, styrax liquids, levant styrax, orientalis frankincense gum. Although commercial preparations are available, it is also sold as no name in herbal shops in the region (
Moerman, 1998). Anti-inflammatory, antiulserigenic and antioxidant properties of
L. orientalis have been previously demonstrated by experimental studies. Although the use of herbal medicine has become very popular in recent years, toxic effects caused by incorrect usage of dosage, method and exposure are frequently encountered (
Arslan and Şahin, 2016;
Gürbüz et al., 2013).
Liquidambar spp. trees are important natural resources with medicinal and economic value because they contain compounds beneficial for human health
(Moerman, 1998). The sap, also called Storax, has proven to be a potent alternative antimicrobial agent against multidrug resistant bacteria. It has also been reported that Asian storax contains cinnamic acid, cinnamyl cinnamate, 3-phenylpropyl cinnamate, ethyl cinnamate, benzyl cinnamate, styrene and vanillin (
Moerman, 1998;
Guenther, 1952). Cinnamic acid has been reported previously to have antimicrobial and antioxidant properties (
Sova, 2012). In addition, the leaves, bark and seeds of
Liquidambar spp. tree also have beneficial compounds such as shikimic acid, which is the precursor of oseltamivir phosphate to the production of its antiviral active ingredient. Other extracts from
Liquidambar spp. trees have been reported to have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and chemopreventive potential
(Sharun et al., 2021). Some compounds from
Liquidambar spp. extract have been reported to suppress hypertension in mice. Studies have shown that extracts obtained from
Liquidambar spp. seeds have anticonvulsant effects, which indicates that these extracts may be a potential drug that can be used in the treatment of epilepsy. In addition
Liquidambar spp. juices have antifungal activity against various phytopathogenic fungi and to be an effective treatment to evade nematodes and yellow mosquitoes from the plant. Therefore, it is reported that these extracts can be used as an alternative option to some harmful drugs such as pesticides and antifungal agents. The list of products obtained from
Liquidambar spp. trees can be increased by conducting more intensive and extensive research on this tree, which is abundant in our country
(Lingbeck et al., 2015).
Liver and kidney are important organs in which toxins are detoxified and evaded from the body. Abnormalities in AST, ALP, ALT, GGT for the liver and urea and creatinine parameters for the kidney are used as toxicity indicators (
Okoro and Farate, 2019;
Nwose et al., 2019; Damiati, 2019;
Rodriguez et al., 2019; Ribeiro et al., 2019; Wilkerson and Ogunbodede, 2019).
The aim of this study is to examine the effects of orally administered
L. orientalis oil on the liver and kidneys of healthy rats using biochemical and histopathological methods.
