Effect of silymarin on experimental liver lesions.

The effect of Silymarin (Legalon) upon liver lesions was investigated using four experimental models: In acute galactosamine-hepatitis, Silymarin administration achieved protection of the liver structure (electron-microscopy included), liver cell glycogen, RNA and enzymatic activity, Galactosamine-depressed gluconeogenesis in the isolated perfused rat liver was significantly preserved by Silymarin treatment. In lead and cadmium poisoning the structural damage and histochemical and histoenzymatic changes were partly but significantly prevented. The complex noxious effects of Imuran overdoses were favourably influenced by Silymarin, without diminishing the cytostatic-immunosuppressive action of Imuran.

Lead-induced experimental lesions of the testis and their treatment.

Thirty-six healthy albino rats were divided into three groups and the histologic structure of the testes was examined after treatment: group 'C'--10 healthy control rats were untreated; group 'Pb'--eight rats received intraperitoneal injections of 8.5 mg per kg body weight lead acetate for 154 days (15 doses in all); group 'PbA'--eight rats intoxicated with lead, like group 'Pb' but which, during the last 21 days before killing, were treated with 5 ml per kg body weight per day of a 2% injectable solution of sodium aspartate. As compared with the controls, group 'Pb' showed alteration of the histopathologic pattern and reduction in the size of seminiferous tubules, basal membrane separation and a decrease in the cell content of the germinal layer, lesions of the spermatocytes and spermatids, and slight oedematous dissociation in the interstice. In 75% of the group 'PbA' animals, normal aspects similar to those of group 'C' were found.