An Experimental Study of Total Flavone from Litchi Chinensis Sonn Improving Symptoms of Cholestatasis in BDL Rats

Objective To observe the effects of total flavone from litchi chinensis sonn(TFL) on the liver function in-cluding p16 protein, pro collagen type 3(PC3) and pro collagen typeⅠ(PCⅠ) in model rats with liver fibrosis induced bybile duct ligation. Methods Forty rats were randomly divided into four groups: sham operation(SO) group, bile duct liga-tion(BDL) group, TFL group and silibinin(SIL) group. Rats were gavaged with saline(5 mL·kg-1·d-1) in SO and BDL group,rats were gavaged with TFL(200 mL·kg-1·d-1) in TFL group and rats were gavaged with SIL(5 mL·kg-1·d-1) in SIL groupfor four weeks. The serum levels of alanine aminotransferase(ALT), aspartate aminotransferase(AST), bilirubin direct(BILD)and bilirubin total(BILT) were detected in four groups. The liver tissues were stained by HE and Masson methods. The ex-pression levels of p16, PC3 and PCⅠ in liver tissues were determined by Western blot assay. Results The serum levels ofALT(44.6 IU/L±8.0 IU/L), AST(103.8 IU/L±18.1 IU/L), BILD(0.76 μmol/L±0.28 μmol/L) and BILT(1.48 μmol/L±0.35μmol/L) were lower in SO group. There was a higher level of ALT in BDL group(147.4 IU/L±86.3 IU/L) than that of TFLgroup(92.9 IU/L±47.3 IU/L). The serum level of ALT was higher in AST group(362.7 IU/L±106.6 IU/L) than that of TFLgroup(290.1 IU/L±171.7 IU/L) and SIL group(250.2 IU/L±54.9 IU/L). The serum level of BILD was lower in BDL group(99.71 μmol/L±40.87 μmol/L) than that of SIL group(137.01 μmol/L±38.86 μmol/L). The serum levels of BILD and BILTwere significantly lower in TFL group(81.48 μmol/L±47.50 μmol/L, 106.64 μmol/L±61.04 μmol/L) than those of SIL group(P0.05). There were small amount of new bile duct and no obvious cells degeneration, small amount of infiltration of in-flammatory cells and collagen deposition in TFL group. The liver fibrosis improved significantly in TFL group than that ofBDL group. There were more new bile duct in hepatic portal area in SIL group than those of TFL group. The expression levels of p16, PC3 and PCⅠ were significantly higher in BDL group than those of TFL group. The expression level of PC3 was significantlylower in BDL group than that of SIL group. The expression level of PCⅠwas significantly higher in BDL group than that of SIL group(P0.05). There was no significant difference in the expression level of p16 between BDL group and SIL group. The expression levelsof PC16 and PC3 were significantly lower in TFL group than those of SIL group(P0.05). There was no significant difference in the ex-pression level of PCⅠ between TFL group and SIL group. Conclusion TFL can improve the liver function in model rats with choles-tatic liver fibrosis and reduce liver fibrosis, which may be related with inhibitory effects on the expressions of p16, PC3 and PCⅠ.