Hepatoprotective effects of Yulangsan polysaccharide against isoniazid and rifampicin-induced liver injury in mice

Yulangsan polysaccharide (YLSPS) is often used in popular folk medicine in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China as a chief ingredient of Millettia pulchra, which is used as an hepatic protection, anti-aging and memory improving agent. In this study, the hepatoprotective effects of YLSPS against isoniazid (INH) or rifampicin and isoniazid (RFP+INH)-induced liver injury were investigated in mice. The liver injury was induced by intragastric administration of INH or RFP+INH daily for 10 days. During the experiment, the model group received INH or RFP+INH only, and the normal control group received an equal volume of saline. Treatment groups received not only INH or RFP+INH but also the corresponding drugs, DDB (200 mg/kg/day) or YLSPS (100, 200, and 400 mg/kg/day) 2 h after the administration of INH or RFP+INH. Analysis experiments showed that YLSPS significantly alleviated liver injury as indicated by the decreased levels of ALT and AST and the increased levels of SOD, GSH and GSH-Px. Moreover, YLSPS could effectively reduce the pathological tissue damage. The research on the mechanisms underlying the hepatoprotective effect showed that YLSPS was able to reduce lipid peroxidation and activate the anti-oxidative defense system. Our results show that YLSPS is effective in attenuating hepatic injury in the INH or RFP+INH-induced mouse model, and could be developed as a new drug for treatment of liver injury.