Amelioration of CCl4-induced liver injury in rats by selenizing Astragalus polysaccharides: Role of proinflammatory cytokines, oxidative stress and hepatic stellate cells

Selenizing Astragalus polysaccharides (sAPS) were prepared by nitric acid-sodium selenite method. Effect of sAPS on carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced liver injury and the underlying mechanisms were investigated in the rat. Forty male Wistar rats were divided into five equal groups as follows: control group; CCl4 group; CCl4 + Astragalus polysaccharides group; CCl4 + sodium selenite group and CCl4 + selenizing Astragalus polysaccharides group. The results showed that sAPS significantly decreased the levels of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, lactate dehydrogenase in the serum, malondialdehyde and hydroxyproline content in liver (P < 0.01), and increased the levels of total protein, total antioxidant capacity, glutathione peroxidase, and superoxide dismutase in liver of rats induced by CCl4. In addition, expression levels of antioxidant-related genes (GPX1, SOD1, and Nrf2) were significantly increased following supplementation of the sAPS (P < 0.01). Furthermore, sAPS effectively ameliorated CCl4 induced hepatic necrosis and inflammation, and it also reduced the expression levels of proinflammatory cytokines including TNF-α, IL-6, COX-2 and NFκB (P < 0.01). Moreover, sAPS significantly decreased the expression levels of α-smooth muscle actin, collagen 1, TGF-β1, but increased the Bcl-2/Bax mRNA ratio in rats administered CCl4 (P < 0.01). Taken together, it could be concluded that sAPS could increase the activities of Astragalus polysaccharides and sodium selenite to protect the liver from damage by attenuating hepatic inflammation, oxidative stress, fibrogenesis, and induces apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in hepatic stellate cells.