Hepatoprotective effects of baicalein against CCl4-induced acute liver injury in mice

Table 1 Liver injury grading system

No. of mice	Day 21	Day 31	Day 51	Day 71
Baicalein
1	III	I	I	0
2	III-IV	II	0	0
3	III	I	0	0
4	III	II	0	0
5	III-IV	I	I	0
6	III	I	0	0
Control
1	IV	II-III	I-II	0
2	III-IV	III	II	I
3	III-IV	III	II	II
4	IV	III	II	0
5	IV	II	II	I
6	IV	III	I	I

¹Days after CCl4 treatment at the sacrifice point. Injury grading with respect to severity of necrosis in liver parenchyma. Grade 0: Normal histology; GradeI: Presence of degenerated hepatocytes with only rare foci of necrosis; Grade II: Mild centrilobular necrosis around the central vein, occupying only a part of Rappaport’s zone III; Grade III: Established necrosis limited to zone III; Grade IV: Extensive, confluent centrilobular necrosis involving Rappaport’s zone III and II.

Table 2 Primer sequences used for real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction

Gene	Sense	Anti-sense
IL-6	CCACTCCCAACAGACCTGTCTATAC	CACAACTCTTTTCTCATTTCCACGA
TNF-α	AAGCCTGTAGCCCACGTCGT	CGTAGTCGGGGCAGCCTTGTC
HGF	GTGCTGGGCATTACTATGATGG	CTGCATCTCCCTCTCACACG
TGF-α	GGCGGCTGCAGTGGTGTCTC	AGCCACCACAGCCAGGAGGTHGF
EGF	CGGACAGCTACACGGAATG	CGAGGCAGACACAAATAACCC
β-actin	AGCCTTCCTTCTTGGGTATG	GTGTTGGCATAGAGGTCTTTAC

TNF-α: Tumor necrosis factor-α; IL: Interleukin; TGF-α: Transforming growth factor-α; HGF: Hepatocyte growth factor; EGF: Epidermal growth factor.