Co-administration of cyclosporine A alleviates thioacetamide-induced liver injury

AIM: To investigate the effects of cyclosporine A (CsA) on thioacetamide (TAA)-induced liver injury. METHODS: CsA was co-administrated (7.5 μg/kg body weight per day, i.p.) into rat to investigate the role of CsA on TAA-(200 mg/kg body weight per 3 d for 30 d, i.p.)induced liver injury. RESULTS: The data show that TAA caused liver fibrosis in rat after 30 d of treatment. CsA alleviates the morphological changes of TAA-induced fibrosis in rat liver. The blood glutamyl oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT)/glutamyl pyruvic transaminase (GPT) in the TAA-injury group is elevated compared to that of the normal rat. Compared with the TAA-injury group, the blood GOT/GPT and TGFβ1 (by RT-PCR analysis) are reduced in the CsA plus TAA-treated rat. The level of the transforming growth factor receptor I (TGFβ-R1) in the CsA plus TAA-treated group shows higher than that in the TAA only group, but shows a lower level of the fibroblast growth factor receptor 4 (FGFR4) in the CsA plus TAA-treated group, when using the Western blot analysis. After immunostaining of the frozen section, TGFβ-R1 and FGFR4 are more concentrated in rat liver after CsA plus TAA injury. CONCLUSION: This result suggests that CsA has an alleviated effect on TAA-induced liver injury by increasing the multidrug resistance P-glycoprotein and could be through the regulation of TGFβ-R1 and FGFR4.