Protective effect of astragaloside Ⅳ on immunological liver injury in rats

Objective To study protective effect of astragaloside Ⅳ on immunological liver injury induced by bacillus Calmette-Guerin(BCG) and lipopolysaccharide(LPS).Methods Sixty Sprague-Dawley(SD) rats were randomly divided into 6 groups:normal group, model group, different dose of astragaloside Ⅳ groups(20, 40, 80 mg/kg), and biphenyl positive control group(150 mg/kg).The model of rat immunological liver injury was induced by injecting 2.5 mg/rat BCG and 75 μg/rat LPS at the tenth day.The content of alanine transaminase(ALT), aspirate aminotransferase(AST), superoxide dismutase(SOD), and malondialdehyde(MDA) were measured by spectrophotometric method.Liver pathological changes were observed with hematoxylin-eosin(HE) staining.The liver index and spleen index were determined by weighting method.The content of tumor necrosis factor α(TNF-α) and interleukin-6(IL-6) were determined with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA).Results Compared with the model group, the activity of ALT, AST and the liver and spleen index were decreased in astragaloside Ⅳ(40, 80 mg/kg) groups.Compared with the control group, the content of TNF-α(60±4.2 pg/mL), IL-6(289±12.8 pg/mL)and MDA(25.3±2.8 nmol/mg prot)increased and the activity of SOD(72.2±9.8 U/mg prot)decreased in model group.Compared with the model group, the content of TNF-α(26±1.5 pg/mL), IL-6(139±13.8 pg/mL)and MDA(14.2±2.9 nmol/mg prot)decreased significantly, and the SOD activity(108.1±8.3 U/mg prot)increased significantly in astragaloside Ⅳ(80 mg/kg) group.Conclusion Astragaloside Ⅳ has a protective effect on immunological liver injury.