Effects of acanthopanax senticosus injection on oxidative stress and apoptosis in the hepatic tissue after hepatic ischemia reperfusion in rats

Abstract

Objective To investigate the effects of Acanthopanax Senticosus Injection (ASI) on free radical metabolism and apoptosis in the hepatic tissue after hepatic ischemia-reperfusion in rats. Methods A total of 100 rats were randomly divided into 5 groups: a sham operation group, a model group, and groups of high-, medium- and low-dose ASI, 20 rats in each group. Seven days before modeling, the drugs had been given by intraperitoneal injection. The rats in the high-,medium- and low-dose groups were given ASI 40, 80 and 120 mg/kg, respectively, and the rats in the sham operation and model groups were given equivalent volume of normal saline. A rat model of hepatic ischemia reperfusion was induced by partial hepatic pedicle clamping followed by reperfusion. 2 h after reperfusion, the activities of SOD, GSH-Px, GST and the MDA level in the hepatic tissue were determined; the activities of ALT and AST in serum were also determined; the histopathological changes and hepatocyte apoptosis were observed using the HE staining and the TUNEL staining, respectively. Results In comparison with the model group, the activities of SOD (11.16 ± 2.31 U/mg, 10.63 ± 1.92 U/mg vs.7.34 ± 1.78 U/mg; P<0.01 or P<0.05), GSH-Px (15.48 ± 2..91 U/mg, 13.23 ± 1.87 U/mg vs. 10.35 ± 2.04 U/mg; P<0.01 or P<0.05), GST(1.76 ± 0.25 U/mg, 1.55 ± 0.22 U/mg vs. 0.94 ± 0.18 U/mg; P<0.01 or P<0.05) in the hepatic tissue in the ASI high- and medium-dose groups were significantly increased; and the MDA level in the hepatic tissue significantly decreased (4.67 ± 1.24 nmol/mg, 4.93 ± 1.53 nmol/mg vs. 10.29 ± 2.41 nmol/mg); the serum levels of ALT(671.82 ± 338.37 U/L, 803.91 ± 441.63 U/L vs.1 416.22 ± 538.94 U/L; P<0.01 or P<0.05), AST(329.02 ± 161.88 U/L, 417.26 ± 182.37 U/L vs. 751.93 ± 262.75 U/L; P<0.01 or P<0.05) were significantly decreased; the histopathological changes and hepatocyte apoptosis in the ASI high-, medium - and low-dose groups were significantly reduced. Conclusions ASI could effectively attenuate oxidative stress in the, improve the histopathological changes, inhibit hepatocyte apoptosis, and protect against hepatic ischemia reperfusion injury in rats. Key words: Liver diseases; Reperfusion injury; Ci Wu Jia Zhu She Ye; Oxidative stress; Rats