Hepatoprotective effects of syringin on fulminant hepatic failure induced by D-galactosamine and lipopolysaccharide in mice.

The prognosis for fulminant hepatic failure (FHF) still remains extremely poor with a high mortality and, therefore, better treatments are urgently needed. Syringin, a main active substance isolated from Eleutherococcus senticosus, has been reported to exhibit immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory properties. In this study, we investigated the effects and underlying mechanisms of syringin on lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and D-galactosamine (D-GalN)-induced FHF in mice. Mice were administered syringin (10, 30 and 100 mg kg(-1), respectively) intraperitoneally (i.p) 30 min before LPS/D-GalN then mortality and liver injury were evaluated subsequently. We found that syringin dose-dependently attenuated LPS/D-GalN-induced FHF, as indicated by reduced mortality, inhibited aminotransferase and malondialdehyde (MDA) content, an increased glutathione (GSH) concentration and alleviated pathological liver injury. In addition, syringin inhibited LPS/D-GalN-induced hepatic caspase-3 activation and hepatocellular apoptosis, myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) expression, as well as hepatic tissues tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) production and NF-κB activation in a dose-dependent manner. These experimental data indicate that syringin might alleviate the FHF induced by LPS/D-GalN through inhibiting NF-κB activation to reduce TNF-α production.