Magnesium isoglycyrrhizinate shows hepatoprotective effects in a cyclophosphamide-induced model of hepatic injury

// Wenjiao Jiang 1 , Jingyan Liu 2 , Peijin Li 1 , Qianfeng Lu 1 , Xue Pei 1 , Yilin Sun 1 , Guangji Wang 1 , Kun Hao 1 1 Key Laboratory of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China 2 Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China Correspondence to: Guangji Wang, email: guangjiwang@hotmail.com Kun Hao, email: cpu_haokun@aliyun.com Keywords: magnesium isoglycyrrhizinate, cyclophosphamide, hepatic injury Received: October 19, 2016 Accepted: March 04, 2017 Published: March 28, 2017 ABSTRACT The purpose of the current study was to investigate the effect of Magnesium Isoglycyrrhizinate (GM) on cyclophosphamide (CP)-induced hepatic injury in vivo and in vitro . The results demonstrated that GM exerted a protective effect on CP-induced acute liver injury, as evidenced by the alleviations of hepatic pathological damage and serum transaminase activities. Meantime, GM attenuated serum and HepG2 cell supernatant levels of TNF-α, IL-6, IL-1β, SOD and MDA. Western blot results presented that GM down-regulated the expressions of the microtubule associated protein 1A/1B-light chain 3 (LC3), Lysosome associated membrane protein-1 (LAMP-1), p-phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), p-protein Kinase B(Akt), p-mechanistic target of rapamycin(mTOR), p-ribosomal protein S6 kinase 70 kDa (p70S6K), p-4E binding protein 1(4EBP1), p- inhibitor of NF-κB(IκB)α and p-nuclear factor kappa B(NF-κB)p65 in CP-stimulated hepatic tissue and HepG2 cells. Taken together, our results suggested that GM showed beneficial effect on CP-induced liver injury through NF-κB-mediated inflammation and PI3K/Akt/mTOR/p70S6K/4EBP1 axis-mediated autophagy in vivo and in vitro .