Hepatoprotective effect of oleanolic acid on D- galactosamine- induced acute liver injury in the mice

OBJECTIVE To investigate the protective effect of oleanolic acid( OA) on D- galactosamine- induced acute liver injury in mice. METHODS Mal Kunming mice were radomly divided into 4 groups: control group,OA group,model group,OA pretratment group. Male mice were treated with OA( 200 μmol·kg- 1,dissolved in vegetable oil,ig),control group and model group were intragastrical administrated( ig) with rapeseed oil of the same volume. twice per day for 3 days. One hour after the last dose,control group and OA group were theated with saline of the same volume by ip,model group and o A pretreatment group were administrated D-glactosamine( 800 mg·kg- 1,ip) to establish model. Eight hours later,blood and livers were collected. Liver injury was evaluated by serum alanine aminotransferase( ALT),aspirate aminotransferase( AST) activities,content of MDA in liver,histopathological changes,and the expression of toxicity related genes determined by real- time RT- PCR. RESULTS D- galactosamine significantly increased serum levels of ALT,AST and liver MDA content. Pretreatment of OA decreased ALT,AST and MDA levels,and significantly improved the severity of liver cell necrosis. OA attenuated the increase of m RNA expression of D- galactosamine- induced growth- arrest-and- DNA- damageinducible gene- 153( GADD153,Chop10),GADD45,early growth response protein- 1( Egr1),mouse keratinocyte- derived chemokine( m KC) and tumor necrosis factor( TNF- α). CONCLUSION OA is effective in protecting against Dgalactosamine- induced acute liver injury. The mechanisms appear to be due,at least part,to attenuated ER stress,and decreased inflammation and oxidative stress.