Figure 3

Galactose prevents hepatocytes from TNF-α and ActD-induced death. (a) Serum ALT levels of LPS-challenged mice. Mice were injected i.p. with 10 mg/kg LPS, and subsequently treated with 1250 mg/kg galactose or left untreated. After 24 h, serum ALT activity was detected. Data represent means±s.e.m. from three independent experiments (n=6). **P<0.01. (b) Mice were pretreated with 1250 mg/kg galactose orally or i.v. for 30 min, followed by i.p. injection with 0.8 mg/kg ActD, and subsequently challenged with 2 μg/kg of TNF-α after 15 min. At 12 h after TNF-α injection, serum ALT, AST and LDH activities were measured. Data represent means±s.e.m. (n=10). Vehicle control mice were injected i.v. with physiological saline at a volume equal to galactose. *P<0.05, **P<0.01, ***P<0.001. (c and d) Chang Liver and Hu7.5 cells were pretreated with 10 μg/ml or 100 μg/ml galactose for 1 h, and stimulated with 50 ng/ml TNF-α and 0.5 μg/ml ActD for a further 24 h. Absorption values at 450 nm were measured with the CCK-8 assay. (e) Apoptosis of mouse primary hepatocytes was identified with the Annexin V assay. The number of annexin V-positive cells was decreased after galactose treatment, which was reversed in the presence of the NF-κB inhibitor, BAY-11-7082. *P<0.05, **P<0.01, ***P<0.001.