Ameliorative effect of psoralen on acute liver injury induced by carbon tetrachloride in mice

To investigate the ameliorative effect of psoralen (PSO) on carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄)-induced acute liver injury in mice and its potential mechanism, female C57BL/6J mice aged 6-8 weeks were continuously administrated with psoralen or positive control drug diallyl sulfide (DAS) intragastrically for 4 days.On day 4, except that the control group were treated with vehicle control, other groups were all given carbon tetrachloride intraperitoneally to establish a carbon tetrachloride acute liver injury model.Serum biochemical indicators alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels were detected; liver pathological changes were observed by HE staining; cytochrome P450 2E1 (CYP2E1) protein levels were detected by Western blot; the protein level of CYP2E1 were detected by immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining; and the gene levels of CYP2E1, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were detected by RT-PCR.Compared with the model group, psoralen could improve the inflammatory cell infiltration and hepatocyte necrosis caused by carbon tetrachloride, significantly reducing the serum ALT and AST levels, down-regulating the inflammatory factors TNF-α and IL-6 levels, and inhibiting CYP2E1 protein expression.The results show that psoralen can ameliorate the acute liver injury induced by carbon tetrachloride in mice, with the possible mechanism inhibiting the protein expression of CYP2E1.