Ethyl pyruvate protects against experimental acute-on-chronic liver failure in rats

Figure 1 Effect of ethyl pyruvate on serum endotoxin, high mobility group box-1, hepatic enzyme and inflammatory cytokines in rat acute-on-chronic liver failure model. A: Endotoxin; B: High mobility group box-1 (HMGB1); C: Alanine transaminase (ALT); D: Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α); E: Interferon-γ (IFN-γ); F: Interleukin (IL)-10; G: IL-18. ^bP < 0.01 vs normal; ^cP < 0.05 vs model; ^eP < 0.05 vs ethyl pyruvate (EP) treatment at 3 h. Results are expressed as mean ± SD (n = 5). N: Normal group; M: Model group.