Effects of astragalus polysaccharides on MDA，caspase-3 and ICAM-1 in mice with sepsis-induced acute hepatic injury

Abstract:

Objective：To investigate the effects of astragalus polysaccharides on methane dicarboxylic aldehyde（MDA），caspase-3 and intercellular adhesion molecule -1（ICAM-1） in mice with sepsis-induced acute hepatic injury by cecal ligation puncture（CLP）. Methods：The mice were randomly divided into sham group（SHAM group，n=25），sepsis group（SEP group，n=25），APS treatment group（APS group，n=25） and saline -treated group（NS group，n=25）. Mouse model of acute hepatic injury was copied by CLP. The mice in APS group were injected with APS at a dosage of 50 mg/（kg?d）；no special treatment was made in SEP group and SHAM group；the mice in NS group was injected with equal volume of normal saline. Pathological changes in liver tissues were observed by staining. MDA，caspase-3 and ICAM-1 changes in plasma and liver homogenates，and the expression of caspase-3 in liver tissues were detected. Results：In SEP group，hepatocyte swelling began to show progressive increase at 12 h and peaked at 48 h. The severity of liver damage improved significantly in APS than in SEP group. The concentration of MDA（（29.69±4.62） mol/ml，P=0.041；（23.95±4.10） mol/ml，P=0.003），caspase-3（（33.12±9.01） ?滋mol/L，P=0.000；（31.25±8.68） ?滋mol/L，P=0.000） and ICAM-1（（439.49±71.66） ?滋g/L，P=0.009；（321.87±68.64） ?滋g/L，P=0.000） in plasma of APS group decreased at 24 h and 48 h，after treat－ment by APS. The concentration of MDA and caspase-3 in liver homo-genates also began to decrease in the corresponding time points. The expression of caspase-3（（19.93±4.53） ?滋mol/L，P=0.005（16.91±4.76） ?滋mol/L，P=0.000） in liver tissue of APS group was sig－nificantly lower than that in SEP group at 24 h and 48 h. Conclusion：Acute hepatic injury can be reduced by APS；its effect may be associated with the decreased expression of MDA，ICAM-1and caspase-3.