Protective effect of Trillium tschonoskii saponin on CCl4-induced acute liver injury of rats through apoptosis inhibition.

To explore hepatoprotective role and underlying mechanisms of Trillium tschonoskii Maxim (TTM), 36 rats were randomly divided into control, CCl4-induced liver injury model, and biphenyl dimethyl dicarboxylate (DDB) and low-, moderate-, and high-dose TTM treatment groups. After CCl4-induced model establishment, the rats from DDB and TTM groups were administrated with DDB at 0.2 g/kg per day and TTM at 0.1, 0.5, and 1.0 g/kg per day, while the rats from control and model groups were administrated with saline. After 5 days of treatments, all rats were sacrificed for determining serum ALT and AST levels and liver index, examining histopathological changes in liver through HE and TUNEL staining, and evaluating TNF-α and IL-6 mRNA expression by real-time PCR, and caspase-3, Bcl-2, and Bax expression by Western blot. Results indicated that CCl4 could induce acute liver injury and abnormal liver function in rats with obvious hepatomegaly, increased liver index, high ALT and AST levels, up-regulated TNF-α and IL-6, and overexpressed Bax and caspase-3. However, DDB and TTM could execute protective role in CCl4-induced liver injury in rats through reducing ALT and AST levels, rescuing hepatomegaly, down-regulating inflammatory factors and inhibiting hepatocyte apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner. Therefore, TTM has obvious protective role in CCl4-induced liver injury of rats through inhibiting hepatocyte apoptosis.