Aim: To investigate protective effect of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) on liver and lung in mice after hepatic ischemia/reperfusion injury.
Methods: BALB/s mice were used in a model of partial hepatic ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. They are divided randomly to sham-operated control group (SH), hepatic I/R group or NAC pretreated in hepatic I/R group (I/R-NAC). The level of TNF-alpha in portal vein and plasma ALT were measured at 1 hour and 3 hour, respectively after reperfusion. Lung tissue wet-to-dry (W/D) weight ratio compared.
Results: Lung tissue W/D ratio showed significant difference between two groups; The expressions of TLR2/4 mRNA in liver and lung increased obviously after hepatic I/R injury. Histological evaluation showed several changes in lung tissue in I/R group. The level of TNF-alpha and ALT declined significantly in the group pretreated by NAC.
Conclusion: N-acetylcysteine can inhibit the activation of TLR2/4 and reduce TNF-alpha secretion resulted from I/R injury it might abate liver and lung injury following partial hepatic ischemia-reperfusion in mice.