Abstract
Background: Liver ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury is an inevitable pathological phenomenon in various clinical conditions, such as liver transplantation, resection surgery, or shock, which is the major cause of morbidity and mortality after operation. Ginkgo Biloba Dropping Pill (GBDP) is a unique Chinese Ginkgo Biloba leaf extract preparation that exhibits a variety of beneficial biological activities. The aim of this study is to investigate the protective effects of GBDP on the liver I/R injury both in vitro and in vivo. Methods: Hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) experiments were performed in AML-12 cells and primary hepatocytes, which were pretreated with GBDP (60 or 120 μg/mL) followed by incubation in a hypoxia chamber. Cell viability and cell apoptosis were detected by MTT assay and annexin V staining respectively. C57BL/6 mice were used to establish liver I/R injury model, and were pretreated with GBDP (100 or 200 mg/kg/day, i.g.) for two weeks. Liver damage was detected by plasma levels of alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST). Liver necrosis and neutrophil infiltration were determined by H&E and myeloperoxidase immunohistochemistry staining. Finally, TUNEL staining and western blot analysis of apoptosis-related proteins were used to investigate the anti-apoptotic effect of GBDP. Results: In the in vitro study, GBDP pretreatment improved the cell viability of AML-12 cells in H/R injury model. Similarly, the same result was found in the primary hepatocytes isolated from C57BL/6 mice. Moreover, GBDP decreased the number of apoptotic cells induced by H/R. In the in vivo study, oral administration of GBDP ameliorated liver injury evidenced by a significant decline in the levels of ALT and AST. Furthermore, the result of H&E staining showed that GBDP reduced the size of necrosis area. In addition, the decreased infiltration of neutrophils indicated that GBDP may play an anti-inflammatory effect. More importantly, GBDP reduced TUNEL-positive cells and the expression of Bax and caspase-3 in liver indicating GBDP has anti-apoptotic effects.Conclusion: Our findings elucidated that GBDP has potential effects for protecting against liver I/R injury characterized by its anti-apoptotic, anti-necrotic, and anti-inflammatory properties, which would promisingly make a contribution to the exploration of therapeutic strategies in the liver I/R injury.
Reduction of Pulmonary Inflammation by pH Modifiers
