Ammonium glycyrrhizin counteracts liver injury caused by lipopolysaccharide/amoxicillin-clavulanate potassium

Compound ammonium glycyrrhizin protects hepatocytes from injury induced by lipopolysaccharide/florfenicol through oxidative stress and a MAPK pathway

Compound ammonium glycyrrhizin (CAG) protects hepatocytes from injury induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS)/florfenicol (FFC) through a mitochondrial pathway. On this basis, the research was aimed to investigate whether CAG protects hepatocytes from injury induced by LPS/FFC through oxidative stress and the MAPK pathway. For liver injury induced by LPS/FFC, not only CAG can protect hepatocytes and prevent membrane permeability from being increased, but also the activities of ALT and AST were decreased significantly by CAG. Flow cytometry analysis indicated that the apoptosis rate (35.65 ± 2.48%) of LPS/FFC group was significantly higher than that of the control group (8.60 ± 0.32%). CAG (concentration of 0.01 μg/mL, 0.1 μg/mL, 1 μg/mL) significantly decreased the apoptosis rate (23.69 ± 0.54%, 14.92 ± 2.45% and 9.47 ± 1.28%) for the liver injury induced by LPS/FFC. The activities of SOD and GSH were increased with the increased concentration of CAG, and the activity of MDA was decreased with the increased concentration of CAG. All the mRNA and proteins expression levels were increased by LPS/FFC-induced liver injury which associated with the MAPK pathway, and those of the CAG group were decreased with the increased concentration of CAG. And the change of caspase-3 activity was consistent with that of proteins and mRNA. It is suggested that LPS/FFC can induce liver injury through apoptosis and the CAG can protect hepatocytes from injury through the MAPK pathway and oxidative stress.

Compound Ammonium Glycyrrhizin Protects Hepatocytes from Injury Induced by Lipopolysaccharide/Florfenicol through a Mitochondrial Pathway

Florfenicol (FFC), a widely used drug for chicken diseases, can aggravate lipopolysaccharide (LPS) damage to the liver. For this condition, natural or synthetic products displaying strong antioxidant capacity are expected to prevent LPS/FFC from inducing liver injury, so in our study, the compound ammonium glycyrrhizin (CAG) is used as the protective drug to decrease the injury to liver. The research aims to illustrate the underlying mechanism of combining LPS with FFC-induced liver injury and the protective role of CAG by using primary chicken hepatocytes as an in vitro model. The results show that LPS/FFC induced cell apoptosis and CAG protected hepatocytes from injury. The permeability of the cell membrane is elevated by LPS/FFC, leading to the efflux of enzymes (ALT, AST). Flow cytometry analysis indicates that LPS/FFC treatment increased the apoptosis rate significantly. Furthermore, with the up-regulation of apoptosis genes bax, cytochrome c and the down-regulation of bcl-2, caspase-3 and caspase-9 are activated at the gene level. LPS/FFC-induced mitochondrial damage is accompanied by a significant decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) and severe mitochondrial damage. However, CAG improves the situation for the purpose of protecting the liver. In conclusion, it is speculated that LPS/FFC induces severe liver injury through apoptosis and the CAG protects hepatocytes from injury via the mitochondria-mediated apoptosis pathway.

Hepatoprotective effect of rhein against methotrexate-induced liver toxicity

The purpose of this study was to investigate the protective effect of rhein, a major metabolite of diacerein, on methotrexate (MTX)-induced hepatotoxicity and clarify the pharmacological mechanism. Rhein significantly reduced the elevation of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) caused by MTX in rat serum and improved liver morphological damage induced by MTX. Moreover, rhein increased the cell survival rate and reduced the number of apoptosis cells in MTX-treated normal human hepatocyte (L02 cells). Rhein treatment in rats up-regulated nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2), heme oxygenase 1 (HO-1) and glutamate-cysteine ligase catalytic subunit (GCLC), and down-regulated Bcl-2 associated x (Bax) in mRNA and protein levels. Furthermore, rhein treatment further decreased protein expression of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and cysteine aspartic acid specific protease 3 (Caspase-3), increased protein expression of B-cell lymphoma-extra large (Bcl-xl), and reduced mRNA expression of Bcl-2 homologous antagonist/killer (Bak) in MTX-treated rat liver in vivo. However, the protein expression changes of Nrf2, HO-1, GCLC, Bcl-2, Bcl-xl and Bax could be abrogated by Nrf2 antagonist brusatol. In addition, protective effect of rhein against MTX-mediated liver damage could also be suppressed by Nrf2 siRNA in L02 cells. Taken together, these findings suggested that rhein ameliorated liver damage mediated by MTX through acting on Nrf2-HO-1 pathway. NF-κB, TNF-α, Caspase-3 and Bcl-2 family were also participated in the protection. As effectively hepatoprotective ability of rhein, it would raise an important issue for patients orally receiving MTX treatment together with diacerein/rhein.

Protective effects of compound ammonium glycyrrhizin, L‑arginine, silymarin and glucurolactone against liver damage induced by ochratoxin A in primary chicken hepatocytes

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a mycotoxin that is produced by fungi in improperly stored food and animal feed. It exhibits nephrotoxic, hepatotoxic, embryotoxic, teratogenic, neurotoxic, immunotoxic and carcinogenic effects in laboratory and farm animals. In the present study, the hepatotoxicity of OPA was investigated in chicken primary hepatocytes. On this basis, the cytoprotective effects of compound ammonium glycyrrhizin (CAG), L‑arginine (L‑Arg), silymarin (Sil) and glucurolactone (GA) were investigated in vitro. Hepatocytes were treated with OTA, which resulted in a significant decrease in cell viability and increases in serum aspartate transaminase and alanine transaminase activities, as determined by an MTT assay and commercial kits, respectively. Furthermore, following OTA treatment, the levels of hepatic antioxidants, such as superoxide dismutase and glutathione, were decreased, and the lipid peroxidation product malondialdehyde was increased, compared with the control group. However, pretreatment with CAG, L‑Arg, Sil and GA significantly ameliorated these alterations and Sil exerted the optimum hepatoprotective effect. The apoptotic rates were measured by flow cytometry and the results revealed that OTA increased cell apoptosis. The four types of hepatoprotective compounds employed in the present study decreased the apoptosis rate and significantly reversed OTA‑induced increases in the mRNA expression levels of caspase‑3, which was determined by reverse transcription‑quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Furthermore, B‑cell lymphoma‑2 (Bcl‑2) mRNA expression was increased in OTA‑treated cells when pretreated with CAG, L‑Arg, Sil and GA. However, no alterations in the mRNA expression of Bcl‑2‑associated X were observed in the L‑Arg and GA groups, compared with the OTA‑only group. These results indicate that OTA may exhibit hepatotoxicity in chickens and that CAG, L‑Arg, Sil and GA may protect the liver against this via anti‑oxidative and antiapoptosis mechanisms. In addition, CAG and GA are likely to mediate their effects through the mitochondrion‑dependent apoptosis pathway; however, the exact hepatoprotective mechanism of L‑Arg and GA require further investigation. Therefore, CAG, L‑Arg, Sil and GA are potential candidates for the prevention and treatment of chicken liver injury.