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ISSN
1672-9145
Acta Biochim Biophys Sin
2004, 36(11): 767–772
CN 31-1940/Q
Inhibitory Effect of TCCE on CCl4-induced
Overexpression of IL-6 in Acute Liver Injury
Jing GAO*, Huan DOU, Xin-Hui
TANG, Li-Zhi XU, Yi-Mei FAN, and Xiao-Ning ZHAO
School of Medicine, School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University,
Nanjing 210093, China
Abstract Terminalia catappa
L. leaves have been shown to protect against acute liver injury produced by some
hepatotoxicants, but the active components and mechanisms are not clear. This
study was designed to characterize the protective effects of the chloroform
fraction of the ethanol extract of T. catappa leaves (TCCE)
against carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced hepatotoxicity in
mice, and analyze the changes in expression level of interleukin-6 (IL-6) in
the process. It was found that TCCE pretreatment (10 or 30 mg/kg, ig) protected
mice from CCl4 toxicity, as evidenced by the reversed
alterations in serum alanine aminotransferase (sALT) and serum aspartate
aminotransferase (sAST) activities. Additionally liver tissues were subjected
to RT-PCR, Western blot and immunohistochemistry to analyze changes in IL-6
expression. It was found that TCCE markedly suppressed the CCl4-induced over-transcription of IL-6 gene. Consistent with the
result, the expression of IL-6 protein was also blocked by TCCE in CCl4-stimulated mice, especially in the area around central vein on
liver tissue section. In conclusion, TCCE is effective in protecting mice from
the hepatotoxicity produced by CCl4, and the mechanisms
underlying its protective effects may be related to the inhibition on the
overexpression of IL-6 mainly around terminal hepatic vein.
Key words acute liver injury;
TCCE; CCl4; IL-6; expression
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Received: August 6, 2004 Accepted: October 7, 2004
*Corresponding author: Tel,
86-25-83593374; Fax, 86-25-83686559; E-mail, [email protected]