Protective effect of a platelet activating factor antagonist in experimental liver injury

The present study was conducted to observe the effect of platelet activating factor antagonist-WEB 2086 on the galactosamine/endotoxin (GalN/E)-induced rat liver injury. The results showed that the WEB 2086 (1, 20 or 40 mg/kg, ip) diminished significantly GaIN/E induced elevations of ALT.AST and ACP in the serum (P less than 0.01). Histological changes of the liver were also found to be improved significantly by WEB 2086 administration. Additionally, WEB 2086 decreased significantly the GaIN/E-induced increase of Malondialdehyde (MDA) and Myeloperoxidase (MPO) in the liver (P less than 0.05-0.01), and prevented the decreasing of superoxide dismutase (SOD) in the liver (P less than 0.01). The results obtained with WEB 2086 confirm that platelet activating factor (PAF) has an important role in the pathophysiology of liver injury, PAF-antagonists may have protective effects on liver injury.