Ursolic acid ameliorates CCl4-induced liver fibrosis through the NOXs/ROS pathway. - GreenMedInfo Summary
Ursolic acid ameliorates CCl4-induced liver fibrosis through the NOXs/ROS pathway.
J Cell Physiol. 2018 Apr 19. Epub 2018 Apr 19. PMID: 29672850
Dakai Gan
Liver fibrosis is a reversible wound-healing response that occurs after liver injury. NADPH oxidases (NOXs) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) which are expressed in hepatocytes (HCs), hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), and Kupffer cells (KCs) play an important role in the development of hepatic fibrosis. In in vitro studies, we had shown that ursolic acid (UA) could reverse liver fibrosis by inhibiting the activation of NOX-mediated fibrotic signaling networks in HSCs. In this study, we verified that UA could alleviate CCl4-induced liver fibrosis by reducing the expression of NOXs/ROS in HCs, HSCs, KCs. Meanwhile, the phagocytic indexα and clearance index K which represent phagocytosis of KCs were unchanged. Together, all our data demonstrated that UA induced the proliferation of HCs, promoted apoptosis in HSCs, and prevented activation of KCs in vivo by reducing the expression of NOXs/ROS in HCs, HSCs, KCs. Besides, UA had noeffect on the host defense function.