Modification of acute and chronic liver damage by thiazolidine compounds

As high sulfhydril levels were shown to reduce the action of agents causing tissue-injury, increasing glutathion concentrations may have cytoprotective potential. In this study the hepatoprotective effects of several derivatives of 4-carboxy-5,5-dimethyl thiazolidine, a modulator of glutathion metabolism were studied in rat liver damaged with CC14. It was found that 4(S) carboxy 5,5-dimethyl-2 (5′-nitro-2-furyl) thiazolidine (dimethyl-thiazolidine-nitrofuran: DTNF) had the most significant hepatoprotective action; therefore it was subjected to detailed investigation in various models for acute and chronic liver injury. This compound was shown to ameliorate allylalcohol induced liver injury in rats, galactosamine induced hepatitis of mice and CC14 induced chronic liver damage in rats. Our study on protein synthesis in primary hepatocyte suspension culture showed that cell injury induced by CCI4 could be reduced in the presence of this thiazolidine compound.