Protective effect of pilose antler peptide on carbon tetrachloride-induced hepatotoxicity in mice

The present study was designed to investigate the beneficial effects of pilose antler peptide (PAP) against carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) hepatotoxicity in mice, and explore the underlying mechanisms. In our results, animals were treated with either CCl4 and/or PAP for six consecutive weeks. The levels of inflammatory cytokines in serum and liver, hepatotoxicity markers in serum and histopathological evaluation were determined. PAP (50, 100 mg/kg) significantly inhibited the CCl4-incuded overproduction of inflammatory cytokines including tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), cytokines interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in serum and liver. Animals treated with PAP exhibited lower levels of alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST), PAP administration alleviated CCl4 induced hepatic fibrosis as manifested in histopathological records. In fact, PAP prevented the activation of TLR/NF-κB pathway, by inhibiting the expression of TLR2, TLR4 MyD88, p-NF-κBp65 and p-IκBα. In addition, PAP also significantly reversed CCl4-induced alteration of TGF-β and p-samd-3 in liver tissue. In conclusion, PAP restored CCl4-induced hepatotoxicity via TLR/NF-κB and TGF-β/samd-3 pathways.