Background: Aging and estrogen deficiency in menopause women increase susceptibility to liver diseases. In postmenopausal women, the change of ERα expressions and oxidative stress is related to liver diseases' pathogenesis. Phytoestrogens have been shown to protect and repair the liver organ due to estrogen deficiency. Purple Sweet Potatoes contain anthocyanins, a subgroup of flavonoids that have been shown to have antioxidant and phytoestrogen activity. This study aims to evaluate the phytoestrogen and antioxidant activities of purple sweet potato in a liver animal model of menopause through Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) and ERα expressions.

Method: A true experimental study by randomized post-test-only control group design was conducted among 28 female Wistar rats-aged 10-12 weeks with a bodyweight of 180-220 gram, which underwent bilateral ovariectomies. These animals were divided into 4 groups, with 7 rats in each group. On day 7, Group T0, as control was given aquadest, ethanol extract of purple sweet potato was assigned to Group T1, T2, and T3 with doses 1, 2, and 4 mL/day, respectively, during 30 days. The SOD and ERα mRNA expressions were evaluated by qRT-PCR with specific primers. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20 for Windows.

Results: The mRNA expressions of ERα were not significantly different among groups (p>0.05), while SOD expressions were significantly different among groups (p<0.05). The expression of SOD in Group T1 (504.39±231.4 pg/μL), T2 (2,147.92±417.1 pg/μL), and T3 (405.30±224.1 pg/μL) showed a significantly higher than Group T0 (15.34±15.27) (p<0.05)

Conclusion: Oxidative stress could be prevented by purple sweet potato in the liver through the SOD mRNA expression but not ERα.

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