Research Article Curative Effects of Thiacremonone against Acetaminophen-Induced Acute Hepatic Failure via Inhibition

Copyright © 2013 Yu Ri Kim et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. High doses of acetaminophen (APAP; N-acetyl-p-aminophenol) cause severe hepatotoxicity after metabolic activation by cytochrome P450 2E1.This study was undertaken to examine the preventive effects of thiacremonone, a compound extracted from garlic, on APAP-induced acute hepatic failure in male C57BL/6J. Mice received with 500mg/kg APAP after a 7-day pretreatment with thiacremonone (10–50mg/kg). Thiacremonone inhibited the APAP-induced serum ALT and AST levels in a dose-dependent manner, and markedly reduced the restricted area of necrosis and inflammation by administration of APAP. Thiacremonone also inhibited the APAP-induced depletion of intracellular GSH, induction of nitric oxide, and lipid peroxidation as well as expression of P450 2E1. After APAP injection, the numbers of Kupffer cells, natural killer cells, and cytotoxic T cells were elevated, but th