This study was carried out to determine whether Sunultongkyungtang(SUT) exerts the protective effect against oxidant-induced liver cell injury. Cell injury was estimated by measuring lactate dehydrogenase(LDH) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) release, and lipid peroxidation was estimated by measurimg malondialdehyde, a product of lipid peroxidation, in rabbit liver slices. H₂O₂ increased the release of LDH and ALT enzymes in dose-dependent manner over the range of 10-100mM concentrations. Similarly, H₂O₂ also increased lipid peroxidation, indicating that H2O2-induced liver cell injury was attributed to lipid peroxidation.
When 1% SUT was added to incubation solution, the cell injury and lipid peroxidation induced by H₂O₂ were markedly prevented. The protective effect of SUT against the cell injury and lipid peroxidation induced by H₂O₂ was dose-dependent in the range of 0.05-1% concentrations.
Treatment of 0.1 mM HgCl₂ to liver slices caused an increase in the ALT release and lipid peroxidation, which was significantly reduced by 0.5% SUT.
These results indicate that SUT exerts the protective effect against oxidant-induced liver cell injury, and this effect is attributed to prevention of lipid peroxidation. However, the precise mechanisms of antioxidant effect of SUT remain to be defined.
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