Effect of Ercao Qinggan Decoction on Acute Liver Injury of Mice with Endotoxemia and the Expression of TLR4 in the Liver

Objective: To observe the effects of Ercao Qinggan decoction on liver inflammatory reaction of mice with endotoxemia and the expression of toll-like receptor 4(TLR4).Methods: A total of 120 BALB/c mice were randomized into 4 groups: normal control group,model group,high-dose of Ercao Qinggan decoction group,and low-dose of Ercao Qinggan decoction,30 in each.The high dose of 6 mg/kg and the low dose of 3 mg/kg of Ercao Qinggan decoction were intragastrically administered once a day in the 2 experimental groups,respectively,and the same volume of saline to the normal control and model groups.After 12 days of pretreatment,D-Gal and lipopo1ysaccharido were intraperitoneally injected to the modal and experimental groups.In 1,2,4,6,12,and 24 h after injection,tissue and serum samples were taken to observe the pathological damages,to measure the level of alanine aminotransferase(ALT),to determine the amounts of IL-2 and TNF-α by ELISA,and to detect the expression of TLR4 by immunochemistry and TLR4 mRNA by RT-PCR.Results: At each time point,the level of ALT,the amounts of IL-2 and TNF-αin 2 experimental groups were lower than those of the model group(P0.05 or P0.01),and the same change was observed in the expression of TLR4 mRNA(P0.05).But no difference of these index was noted between the high-dose and low-dose of Ercao Qinggan decoction pretreated groups(P0.05).Conclusion: Pretreatment with Ercao Qinggan decoction can reduce the inflammatory reaction in the liver of mice with endotoxemia,and its underlying mechanism could be down-regulating the expression of TLR4 and restraining secretion of downstream inflammatory factors.