Effects of Danshaohuaxian Capsules on Expression of CTGF in Rat Hepatic Fibrosis

Objective: To investigate the effects of Danshaohuaxian (DSHX) capsule, a traditional Chinese medicine prescription,on the expression of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) in rat with hepatic fibrosis, so as to explore the mechanism by which DSHX delays the hepatic fibrosis progression. Methods: Eighty male Wistar rats were randomly divided into normal control group (NC), CCl 4 induced hepatic fibrosis group (HF), non DSHX treated group (NT), low dose treated group (LD) and high dose treated group (HD). Except for the normal control group, the rat hepatic fibrosis were induced by subcutaneous injection of CCl 4, drinking alcohol, diet of hyperliposis and hypoproteinia for 8 weeks. When hepatic fibrosis models were produced, the rats in groups of LD and HD were treated with DSHX capsules at low dose (0 5 g/kg) and high dose (1 0 g/kg) respectively by p.o everyday for 8 weeks. At the end of the experiment, the serum hyaluronic acid (HA) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) were examied; the hepatic fibrosis degree was evaluated with optical microscopy; the expression of CTGF was detected with immunohistochemical techniques. Results: Compared with all the indexes of HF and NT groups, it was revealed that serum HA and ALT were significantly reduced and the degree of hepatic fibrosis was abated in the two treated groups; the expression of CTGF was decreased obviously. All these alterations in HD group were more obvious than that in LD group. Conclusions: The DSHX capsule could inhibit the expression of CTGF in liver tissues of CCl 4 induced hepatic fibrosis rats, which might be one of its anti hepatic fibrosis mechanisms. [