Abstract
Effects of (4R)-hexahydro-7, 7-dimethyl-6-oxo-1, 2, 5-dithiazocine-4-carboxylic acid (SA 3443) on acetaminophen-induced liver injury were investigated in BALB/c mice. SA3443 (30-300 mg/kg, p.o.) dose-dependently suppressed the elevation of serum transaminase activities and the histological changes of liver induced by acetaminophen (150 mg/kg, p.o.). The compound at the same doses also reduced the mortality due to the lethal acute hepatic failure induced by acetaminophen (350 mg/kg, p.o.). Other hepatoprotective agents, cianidanol (500 mg/kg, p.o.), malotilate (100 mg/kg, p.o.), grycyrrhizine (10 mg/kg, i.p.) and cysteine (300 mg/kg, p.o.) similarly reduced it. SA3443 had no effect on glutathione (GSH) contents in the liver of normal mice, but it dose-dependently suppressed the decrease of GSH contents in the liver of BALB/c mice treated with acetaminophen. These results suggest that SA3443, a novel cyclic disulfide, provides considerable protection against acetaminopheninduced liver injury and that one of the modes of the hepatoprotective action of this compound is suppression of the decrease of GSH contents in the liver.
