title: [Protection against paracetamol-induced hepatic damage using total flavonoids of Astragalus].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the mechanism of the protection by total flavonoids of Astragalus protection against paracetamol-induced hepatic damage.
  
  
  METHODS
  Analysing paracetamol and its metabolites in mice urine by HPLC and studying the mechanism of anti-damage induced by paracetamol using experiment module of pentobarbital-induced sleeping time.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Administration of large doses of paracetamol to C57BL/6J mice produced significant hepatic injury with marked elevation in serum ALT activity and severe hepatocellular necrosis. TFA showed a good protective capability against paracetamol-induced hepatic injury. TFA had no marked effect on paracetamol and its metabolites except for the mercapturate-conjugate. The concentration of mercapturate change decreased with increasing TFA dose. TFA had no effect on the pentobarbital metabolites (P > 0.05). However, paracetamol (400 mg.kg-1) prolonged the sleeping time (by 110 min relative to the controls, P < 0.001). The TFA (P < 0.005) caused significant reduction in paracetamol-prolonged pentobarbital-induced sleep.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The mechanism of TFA's protective effect against the paracetamol-induced damage may be related to the inhibition of some metabolism progress of paracetamol and the reduction of the toxicity metabolite such as mercapturate-conjugate.
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, Department of Biochemistry, PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853.
authors.forename: D Q
authors.initials: DQ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Critchley
authors.forename: B G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Y Q
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: H L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: G N
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Y P
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tomlinson
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Critchley
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Edward
mesh_terms: D000082:Acetaminophen / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D027885:Astragalus propinquus / Q000737:chemistry*; D056486:Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism*; D005419:Flavonoids / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000737:chemistry*; D020011:Protective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D012890:Sleep / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D005419:Flavonoids; D020011:Protective Agents; D000082:Acetaminophen