Genistein has the function of alleviating and treating disseminated intravascular coagulation caused by lipopolysaccharide.

Symptoms of disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) include thromboembolism, acute attrition bleeding and multiple organ failure. Genistein isolated from leguminous plants has been shown to be effective in oxidation resistance and tumor inhibition. The present study was designed to evaluate the therapeutic effects of genistein in DIC and preliminarily discuss the mechanisms regarding the anti-inflammatory and anticoagulant effect of genistein. Swiss mice were randomly divided into the following groups-(1) lipopolysaccharide (LPS), (2) genistein, (3) dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO, the non-major solvent component of genistein), (4) DMSO + LPS, (5) saline control group, and (6) heparin control group. LPS was injected intraperitoneally in all the groups except the DMSO group and saline control group. Our results significantly showed that the morphological structure of the liver and kidneys was improved and the fiber protein deposition was decreased, with remarkable improvement of coagulation indicators, function indicators and inflammatory factors in the genistein treatment group compared with the LPS group. In vitro phosphorylated-nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells and interleukin-6 were obviously reduced in the genistein treatment group compared with the LPS group in RAW 264.7 murine macrophage cells. All the results suggested that genistein has the function of alleviating and treating LPS-induced DIC by anti-inflammatory and anticoagulation effects. We tentatively propose that genistein is a potential drug for auxiliary treatment of DIC.