ABSTRACT
Objective To observe the prevention and treatment of the total flavonoids from Litchi chinensis Sonn( TFL) on hepatic fibrosis induced by dimethylnitrosamine(DMN)in rats, and to explore its mechanism. Methods Ninety SD rats were randomly divided into six groups, normal control group, model control group, colchicine group, high-, medium- and low-dose TFL group(n=15).Expect for normal control group, the other groups were given intraperitoneal injection of 2 mL.kg-1 of 5% dimethylnitrosamine for 4 weeks as the model group. The rats in the normal control group and model control group were given 5 mL.kg-1of 0.9% sodium chloride solution, colchicine group was treated with 0.1 mg.kg-1 colchicine.High-, medium-and low-dose TFL groups were given 200, 100 and 50 mg.kg-1 of TFL.The rats were sacrificed and the livers were harvested and stained with HE and Masson staining to observe pathological changes and liver fibrosis in the same part 6 weeks after all the medicine was given to the rats each day. Immunohistochemistry and Western blotting were used to detect the expression of the transforming growth factor β-Ⅰ/type Ⅱ receptor ( TβRⅠ/Ⅱ) , collagen Ⅰ( Col Ⅰ) and Ⅲ collagen ( Col Ⅲ) . Results Compared with the normal control group, the semiquantitative score of liver fiber and the protein expression of TβRⅠ, TβRⅡ, ColⅠ and Col Ⅲ in the model control group were significantly increased(P<0.01).Compared with the model control group, the protein expression levels of TβR, TβRⅡ, ColⅠand ColⅢwere significantly decreased( P<0.01) in the high-,medium-and low-dose TFL group.The semiquantitative score of liver fiber was significantly decreased( P<0.01) with a dose-effect relationship. Conclusion TFL can inhibit formation of DMN-induced liver fibrosis in rats, which may be related with reduction of expression of TβRⅠ/Ⅱ of hepatic fibrosis promoting factor TGF-β1 , inhibition of the activation and increase of hepatic stellate cells, reduction of the collagen content.