Protective Effect of Vitamin E in Rats with Acute Liver Injury*

ABSTRACT. We have previously shown that supplemental vitamin E has a cytoprotective effect in the liver of rats with chronic CCL4-induced liver cirrhosis. In this study, we hypoth-esized that vitamin E would have a protective effect in acute liver injury induced by D-galactosamine. D-Galactosamine-in-duced injury has been thought to be due to a synergistic direct toxic effect and presence of intestinal bacteria and/or endo-toxins. D-Galactosamine was used to induce acute "hepatitis" (1.5-2.0 g/Kg body weight, ip). Rats were placed on either standard chow or the same chow supplemented with vitamin E (300 mg DL-alpha-tocopherol/Kg diet) and 6 days later were given D-galactosamine. There was significantly improved early (5-day) survival and late (14-day) survival in the vitamin E-supplemented group. The vitamin E beneficial effect was man-ifested also by decreased liver fat and collagen content an