• Molecules and Cells
• /
• v.46 no.9
• /
• pp.527-534
• /
• 2023

Liver ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) is the main cause of organ dysfunction and failure after liver surgeries including organ transplantation. The mechanism of liver IRI is complex and numerous signals are involved but cellular metabolic disturbances, oxidative stress, and inflammation are considered the major contributors to liver IRI. In addition, the activation of inflammatory signals exacerbates liver IRI by recruiting macrophages, dendritic cells, and neutrophils, and activating NK cells, NKT cells, and cytotoxic T cells. Technological advances enable us to understand the role of specific immune cells during liver IRI. Accordingly, therapeutic strategies to prevent or treat liver IRI have been proposed but no definitive and effective therapies exist yet. This review summarizes the current update on the immune cell functions and discusses therapeutic potentials in liver IRI. A better understanding of this complex and highly dynamic process may allow for the development of innovative therapeutic approaches and optimize patient outcomes.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
• /
• v.33 no.4
• /
• pp.609-614
• /
• 2012

Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is a common cause of acute hepatitis. Regarding the risk of DILI from herbal preparations, there are controversial issues such as exaggerated reports straying far from the truth and lack of discrimination between herbal drugs and folk remedies or food supplements. This study reported one case of a patient with DILI caused by Smilacis Chinae Radix and cured in an Oriental hospital. Smilacis Chinae Radix has been used as an anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, detoxification and anticancer compound, as a folk remedy. This report would provide helpful information for management of DILI by folk remedies or herbal drugs.

• Biomedical Science Letters
• /
• v.16 no.3
• /
• pp.139-149
• /
• 2010

The present study was carried out to elucidate whether an environmental strain of Cryptococcus neoformans (environmental C. neoformans) isolated from an environmental source in a park of Busan has an acute pathophysiological effect in rats. On the second day after peritoneal inoculation of environmental C. neoformans, adverse effects occurred from the viewpoint of hematology and biochemistry. Eosinophil damages and crystal formations were found in the blood. Disturbances in cytokines production were observed in the cerebral and pulmonary tissues. Fungal budding existed in the brain, lung, liver and kidney. Tissue injury findings such as inflammation, leukocyte infiltration, bleeding, or degeneration were found in the brain, lung, liver and kidney. The present data suggest that the environmental C. neoformans can cause systematically harmful effects even for short periods of infection (two days of cryptococcal infection) and the adverse effects are summarized as immune derangements and biochemical and/or histological dysfunction and injury on major organ such as the brain, lung, liver and kidney in the immunocompetent hosts. Further studies should be focused on comparing the differences between environmental and clinical strains of C. neoformans.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
• /
• v.21 no.4
• /
• pp.347-350
• /
• 2018

Drug-induced autoimmune hepatitis (DIAIH) is an increasingly recognized form of drug-induced liver injury that leads to a condition similar to idiopathic autoimmune hepatitis. A number of drugs have been associated with DIAIH, minocycline is one of the most well characterized. Minocycline is a semisynthetic tetracycline antibiotic used in the treatment of acne vulgaris. Minocycline-induced autoimmune hepatitis presents with serologic and histologic features similar to idiopathic autoimmune hepatitis. However, the natural history and outcomes of these two conditions differ significantly. The majority of patients with minocycline-induced autoimmune hepatitis experience complete resolution of symptoms after withdrawal of the medication. Some patients may require a short course of steroids and rarely use of an immunomodulator to achieve resolution of disease. Recurrence of symptoms is rare and typically only occurs with reintroduction of minocycline. It is important for primary care providers to consider minocycline-induced autoimmune hepatitis when liver injury develops during minocycline therapy.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.30 no.6
• /
• pp.944-947
• /
• 1997

Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) rich oil was obtained from blue fin tuna (Thunnus thynnus orientalis) orbital tissue with centrifugation of 12,000 rpm under vaccum $(10^{-1}\;Torr)\;at\;4^{\circ}C$. The effect of DHA rich oil (DHA content; $27.8\%$) on $CCl_4-induced$ acute injury was investigated biochemically and histopathologically. Dosage of DHA rich oil on 24h before $ CCl_4-administration$ prevented significantly the increase of glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT) and glutamic pyruvic transaminase (GTP) values. No necrosis of hepatocytes was observed in rat livers treated with DHA oil on 24h prior to $CCl_4-administration$. These results suggested that DHA oil controls the accumulation of fat in the liver and prevented the liver injury.

• Toxicological Research
• /
• v.13 no.3
• /
• pp.193-196
• /
• 1997

Matricaria Chammomillal L., Foemiculum Vulgare mill, and Plantago Psylium L. have been screened for their hepato protective activities against liver damge induced by $CCl_4$ intoxication in mice. Hydroalcoholic extractions (2:8) of herbal drugs were concentrated in vacuo and concentrated crude extracts of Matrica Chammomilla L. and Foeniculum Vulgare mill were orally administered at doses of 100 mg/kg, 200 mg/kg, 400 mg/kg, and 800 mg/kg. Plantago Psyllium was given at doses of 50 mg/kg, 100 mg/kg, 200 mg/kg, and 400 mg/kg. Liver protective activities of these herbs were determined after administration of $CCl_4$ Liver size, serum enzyme activities, sleeping time, and histopatology of the liver were examined one hour after administration of $CCl_4$. ALT and AST activities, liver weight and sleeping time decreased in groups that received 400 mg/kg of Matricaria Chammomilla L. or Foeniculum Vulgare. Histological investigation showed significant increase in hepatic cell regeneration and reduction in liver injury. The group that received 100 mg/kg Plantago Psylium showed liver protection but protection was not significant in other doses.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
• /
• v.26 no.1 s.61
• /
• pp.76-84
• /
• 2005

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the protective efficacy of GHT on alcoholic liver injury. Methods: We measured the rate of alcohol oxidation, serum level of liver enzyme, lipid peroxidation level in liver tissue, and inflammatory related cytokine expressions in the liver. Results : GHT showed liver protective effects, lowered the levels of AST and LDH in serum and inhibited lipid peroxidation in liver tissue, and enhanced alcohol oxidation. GHT treatment up-regulated IL-10 in the liver, whereas it down­regulated $TNF-\alpha,\;TGF-\beta$, and Fas ligand. Conclusion : From these results, GHT is presumed to work in the liver in protective roles not through the pathway of alcohol metabolism but mainly by anti-inflammation activity in our model.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.191-198
• /
• 2015

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is responsible for approximately 350 million chronic infections worldwide and is a leading cause of broad-spectrum liver diseases such as hepatitis, cirrhosis and liver cancer. Although it has been well established that adaptive immunity plays a critical role in viral clearance, the pathogenetic mechanisms that cause liver damage during acute and chronic HBV infection remain largely known. This review describes our current knowledge of the immune-mediated pathogenesis of HBV infection and the role of immune cells in the liver injury during hepatitis B.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
• /
• v.34 no.2
• /
• pp.192-203
• /
• 2013

Objectives : To investigate the incidence of drug-induced liver injury (DILI) by combined-prescription of Korean herbal medicine (KHM; prescribed herbal medicine by doctors of traditional Korean medicine) and Western medicine on liver function. Methods : Sixty-nine in-patients who took KHM and Western medicine for various conditions were enrolled for prospective observational study. All subjects were given liver and renal function tests at the start of hospitalization to establish a baseline. After taking KHM and Western medicine, tests were done at approximately 4-week intervals afterwards. Results : Fifty-three subjects showed normal liver function test (LFT) at baseline, 50 subjects (72.5%) remained within the normal range at the second test, while 3 subjects (4.3%) tests revealed slight increase of LFT. However not a single patient had a high enough raised LFT to indicate liver injury. Sixteen of 69 subjects had abnormal baseline, 11 subjects recovered to normal levels and 5 subjects remained at abnormal level. Among all subjects, there was no statistically significant increase in LFT level between the first and second tests. Conclusions : This study shows that the combined-prescription of KHM and Western medicine did not cause any DILI. In some cases, combined treatment increased LFT levels but those increases were not high enough to have statistical significance. Additional large scale and systematical studies are required for more conclusive proof and results.

• BMB Reports
• /
• v.31 no.2
• /
• pp.189-195
• /
• 1998

Methylmercury (MeHg), which is widely distributed in the environment, is well known for both its acute and chronic poisoning effects on the human health; however, the precise biochemical mechanisms by which this compound elicits its toxicity in a cellular level are still poorly understood. To examine whether MeHg-induced liver injury involves activation of Phospholipase $A_2$ ($PLA_2$), the $PLA_2$ activity of control and MeHg-administrated livers was measured. MeHg stably enhanced a liver form of cytosolic $PLA_2$ activity, which exhibited several biochemical properties similar to those of the 100 kDa $cPLA_2$, except in its elution profile of a DEAE-5PW HPLC, and it migrated as a molecular weight of 80 kDa in Western blot analysis. This blotting analysis also indicated that the MeHg-induced enhancement of the activity could be due to the increase in the amount of the enzyme protein rather than a stable modification of the enzyme such as phosphorylation. Our data also showed the higher myeloperoxidase activity in MeHg-administrated liver than in the control, suggesting that this increase in the amounts of the 80 kDa $PLA_2$ and its activity may be resulted from infiltration of neutrophils into the liver during a hepatic injury process such as MeHg-induced inflammation. Taken together, these data suggest that MeHg-induced liver injury may be mediated by activation of the 80 kDa form of liver cytosolic $PLA_2$.