title: [Sanhuangyinchi decoction pretreatment ameliorates acute hepatic failure in rats by suppressing antioxidant stress and caspase-3 expression].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To observe the effects of Sanhuangyinchi decoction (SHYCD) pretreatment on acute hepatic failure (AHF) induced by D-galactosamine and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in rats and explore the possible mechanisms involving antioxidant stress and cell apoptosis-related protein expression.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-eight SD rats were randomized equally into control group, AHF model group, high-, medium- and low-dose SHYCD groups, and Bicyclol group. Five days after administration of the corresponding drugs, the rats were challenged with peritoneal D-galactosamine (700 mg/kg) plus LPS (10 ug/kg) injections to induce AHF acute hepatic failure except for those in the control group. At 48 h after the injections, blood samples were collected from the rats to detect the levels of ALT, AST, TBIL, PT, INR and FIB, and pathological changes and superoxide dismutase (SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA) contents in the liver were examined; immunohistochemistry and western blotting were used to detect caspase-3 protein expression in the liver.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The levels of ALT, AST, TBIL, TP and INR in the 3 SHYCD groups and Bicyclol group significantly decreased (P<0.05) while FIB significantly increased in comparison with those in the model group. SHYCD obviously ameliorated the pathological changes, enhanced SOD activity (P<0.05), and decreased MDA levels (P<0.05) and caspase-3 expression (P<0.05) in the liver tissue. SHYCD at the medium dose produced similar effects to Bicyclol (P>0.05) and showed better effects at the high dose than Bicyclol (P<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  SHYCD pretreatment can dose-dependently ameliorate AHF in rats possibly by suppressing antioxidant stress and caspase-3 expression to decrease hepatic cell apoptosis.
authors.affiliation: School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China.E-mail: winselfmar@126.com.
authors.forename: Wenxiao
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Yungao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Jianxin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Diao
authors.forename: Yawei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Heyu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hua
authors.forename: Xiaomin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D053148:Caspase 3 / Q000378:metabolism*; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D017114:Liver Failure, Acute / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000517:prevention & control; D008297:Male; D008315:Malondialdehyde / Q000378:metabolism; D018384:Oxidative Stress; D008517:Phytotherapy; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D008315:Malondialdehyde; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase; C505410:Casp3 protein, rat; D053148:Caspase 3