Protective effects of specnuezhenide against carbon tetrachloride-induced acute hepatic damage in mice / 中国药理学通报

ABSTRACT

Aim To research the protective effects of specnuezhenide, an active compound of traditional Chinese medicine, against CCl4-induced hepatic dam-age in mice. Methods The model of acute hepatic damage caused by CCl4 intraperitoneal injection on mice was obtained. The levels of ALT, AST, TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 in serum, the activities of MDA, SOD, and GSH-Px in liver homogenates, and the his-topathological organization of liver sections were also examined to observe the protective effects of specnu-ezhenide. Results Specnuezhenide markedly de-creased the CCl4-induced elevation of serum ALT and AST activities, and improved hepatic histopathology changes. Specnuezhenide also significantly decreased the content of MDA in liver tissues, meanwhile in-creased the activities of antioxidant enzymes SOD and GSH-Px. In addition, specnuezhenide reduced the lev-els of TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 . Conclusions Specnu-ezhenide has significant protective effects against CCl4-induced hepatic damage in mice, and the possible un-derlying mechanisms of the activity could be due to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.