Effect of anti-oxidative drugs on serum IL-18 levels in rats with acute liver failure

Objective To investigate the relationship between interleukin-18(IL-18)and acute hepatic failure(AHF)in rats,and to study the efficacy of different doses of reduced glutathione(GSH)in treatment of AHF.Methods Thirty-six Wister male rats were used and were randomly divided into three groups(12 rats in each group):model control group(MG group,intravenous injection of saline daily for 5 days),high-dose therapy group(GSH1 group,intravenous injection of GSH 600 mg/kg daily for 5 days),low-dose therapy group(GSH2 group,intravenous injection of GSH 200 mg/kg daily for 5 days).Six Wister male rats were studied as blank control(N group,not treated).Serum ALT,AST,and IL-18 values were detected at 24 h,48 h,72 h,7 d after treatment.Results Serum ALT,AST levels were significantly elevated at 24 h,reached peak levels at 48 h,and then gradually decreased in three model groups.The differences in ALT,AST between N group and three model groups were still significant at 7 d(P 0.05).There was no significant difference in AST between GSH1 and N group(P 0.05).The difference in AST among GSH1 group,GSH2 group,and MG group was significant at 24 h and 48 h(P 0.05),but not so significant at 72 h and 7 d(P 0.05).The difference in ALT between GSH1 group and GSH2 group was significant at 24 h and 48 h(P 0.05),the difference in AST was significant at 48 h(P 0.05),with no significant difference at other time points(P 0.05).Serum IL-18 of rats in each treated group were significantly elevated at 24 h and peaked at 48 h.In each group serum IL-18 gradually decreased,remained higher than normal at 7 d(P 0.05).Conclusions Serum IL-18 closely correlate with AHF,it might be used as one of the indicators for monitoring AHF.Early use of large doses of anti-oxidative drug GSH could significantly improve liver function in the AHF rats and promote repair and regeneration of impaired liver cells.