New mitochandrial mechanisms of asiatic acid against hepatotoxicity

AIM Terminalia Catappa L. is a combretaceous plant broadly distributed on tropical and subtropical areas. The leaves of this plant have been used as a folk medicine for treating hepatitis in Indian, the Philippines et al. Our previous studies showed that the extract of Terminalia Catappa L. leaves (TCCE) exerted antioxidative, anti - inflammatory and hepatoprotective activities, but the active substitutes and mechanisms remain unknown. The present research focused on investigating the antihepatotoxic activity and the new mitochondrial mechanisms of asiatic acid (AA), an important active component of TCCE,on acute liver injury. METHODS LPS^ D-GaIN induced-hepatic injury models was adopted to study the antihepatotoxic role of AA. The activities of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) were detected, and the morphological change was observed. At the same time, the level of mRNA and protein of voltage dependent anion channel (VDAC), the most important componentprotein of mitochondrial permeability transition pore (PTP) in insulted liver was analyzed using RT-PCR and Western blot. Furthermore,