Protective effect of melatonin against liver injury in mice induced by Bacillus Calmette-Guerin plus lipopolysaccharide

Table 1 Effects of melatonin on serum ALT and AST activities in immunological liver injury in mice (n = 10, mean ± SE)

Group	Dose (mg/kg bm)	ALT (U/L)	AST (U/L)
Normal	---	28.2 ± 8.8	26.8 ± 8.5
Model	---	224 ± 40d	205 ± 40d
Melatonin	0.25	187 ± 21a	129 ± 13b
	1.0	119 ± 41b	124 ± 36b
	4.0	163 ± 44b	162 ± 33a

^aP < 0.05,

^bP < 0.01 vs model group;

^dP < 0.01 vs normal control group.

Table 2 Effects of melatonin on MDA level and SOD activity of liver homogenates of immunological injury mice (n = 10, mean ± SE)

Group	Dose (mg/kg bm)	MDA (nmol/g tissue)	SOD (U/g tissue)
Normal	---	92 ± 26	297 ± 22
Model	---	439 ± 25d	202.46 ± 26d
Melatonin	0.25	335 ± 37b	266 ± 71b
	1.0	332 ± 28b	273 ± 31b
	4.0	346 ± 17b	244 ± 27b

^aP < 0.05,

^bP < 0.01 vs model group;

^dP < 0.01 vs normal control group.

Table 3 Effects of melatonin on serum TNF-α, IL-1 and NO levels in immunological liver injury mice (n = 10, mean ± SE)

Group	Dose (mg/kg bm)	TNF-α (ng/L)	IL-1 (A570 nm)	NO (μmol/L)
Normal	---	1.61 ± 0.76	0.107 ± 0.001	9.82 ± 1.92
Model	---	4.80 ± 1.61d	0.242 ± 0.03d	73 ± 19d
Melatonin	0.25	3.42 ± 1.08a	0.183 ± 0.07a	55 ± 18a
	1.0	3.26 ± 0.73a	0.131 ± 0.04b	28 ± 14b
	4.0	2.64 ± 1.19b	0.158 ± 0.04b	56 ± 19a

^aP < 0.05,

^bP < 0.01 vs model group;

^dP < 0.01 vs normal control group.

Table 4 Effects of melatonin on TNF-α, IL-1 and NO levels of liver homogenates in immunological injury mice (n = 10, mean ± SE)

Group	Dose (mg/kg bm)	TNF-α (ng/L)	IL-1 (A570 nm)	NO (μmol/L)
Normal	---	3.1 ± 8.3	0.15 ± 0.03	9.5 ± 2.7
Model	---	26.6 ± 2.3d	0.41 ± 0.03d	45.0 ± 9.8d
Melatonin	0.25	13.9 ± 2.9b	0.38 ± 0.13	25.6 ± 9.5b
	1.0	12.4 ± 2.9b	0.22 ± 0.05b	17 ± 11b
	4.0	17.9 ± 4.8b	0.35 ± 0.04b	24 ± 10b

^aP < 0.05,

^bP < 0.01vs model group;

^dP < 0.01 vs normal control group.

Table 5 Effect of melatonin on TNF-α, IL-1 and NO released from cultured normal Kupffer cells of rats (n = 10, mean ± SE)

Group	Concentration of melatonin (mol/L)	TNF-α (ng/L)	IL-1 (A570 nm)	NO (μmol/L)
KC	---	4.25 ± 0.79	0.137 ± 0.03	13.65 ± 0.21
KC + LPS		11.21 ± 1.63d	0.233 ± 0.03d	18.85 ± 0.88d
KC + LPS + melatonin	10-9	9.96 ± 0.24	0.238 ± 0.02	19.08 ± 0.40
	10-8	9.31 ± 0.53a	0.223 ± 0.02	19.13 ± 0.46
	10-7	8.35 ± 0.82b	0.201 ± 0.01	18.90 ± 0.77
	10-6	8.01 ± 0.38b	0.177 ± 0.01b	18.65 ± 0.61
	10-5	9.74 ± 0.39	0.216 ± 0.02	18.70 ± 0.57

KC: Kupffer cells;

^aP < 0.05,

^bP < 0.01 vs model group;

^dP < 0.01 vs normal control group.

Table 6 Effects of melatonin on MDA, TNF-α and IL-1 released from co-cultured normal rat hepatocytes and Kupffer cells activated by BCG (n = 5, mean ± SE)

Group	Concentration of melatonin (mol/L)	ALT (U/L)	MDA (nmol/L)	TNF-α (ng/L)	IL-1 (A570 nm)
KC + HC	---	37.1 ± 3.7	0.506 ± 0.029	4.50 ± 0.78	0.16 ± 0.03
KC + HC + LPS		81.4 ± 6.4d	0.849 ± 0.062d	11.36 ± 1.6d	0.25 ± 0.03d
KC + HC + LPS + Melatonin	10-9	82.4 ± 4.3	0.809 ± 0.015	10.13 ± 0.23	0.26 ± 0.02
	10-8	79.6 ± 5.4	0.789 ± 0.036	9.49 ± 0.52	0.24 ± 0.02
	10-7	74.9 ± 4.2	0.706 ± 0.014b	8.54 ± 0.81b	0.22 ± 0.01
	10-6	72.9 ± 6.6	0.676 ± 0.043b	8.21 ± 0.37b	0.19 ± 0.01a
	10-5	83.8 ± 3.3	0.69 ± 0.04b	8.39 ± 1.22b	0.20 ± 0.01b

KC: Kupffer cell;

^aP < 0.05,

^bP < 0.01 vs model group;

^dP < 0.01 vs normal control group.