Figure 1

Fuzheng Huayu recipe (FZHY) and N-acetylcysteine (NAC) attenuates hepatocyte apoptosis induced by CCl ₄ . Mice were respectively treated orally with FZHY (4.0 g/kg) or NAC (0.1 g/kg) daily for 3 d. Then, mice were subcutaneously injected with 100% CCl₄ for 18 hours to develop acute liver injury (A). Liver sections were subjected to either hematoxylin-eosin staining to detect necrosis and inflammatory cell infiltration (B, × 100) or to the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) assay to detect cell apoptosis (C, × 200). (D) Serum ALT and AST levels in the four groups (Control group, n = 10; CCl₄ treated, n = 11; FZHY treated, n = 15; NAC treated, n = 15). (E) The apoptotic index (AI) of five high-power fields at × 400 magnification in each tissue specimen. (F) Necrosis and inflammatory cell infiltration scores in the four groups (Control group, n = 10; CCl₄ treated, n = 11; FZHY treated, n = 15; NAC treated, n = 15). (G) Quantitative ELISA analysis of hepatic TNF α expression in the four groups (Control group, n = 10; CCl₄ treated, n = 11; FZHY treated, n = 15; NAC treated, n = 15). ^* P < 0.05, ^** P < 0.01 vs. control group; ^# P < 0.05, ^## P < 0.01 vs. CCl₄ group.