[The protective effects of thalidomide on acute liver failure].

OBJECTIVE: To understand whether thalidomide (Thal) has the same protective effects as it does in leprosy reaction type II, immunologic and inflammatory diseases.

METHODS: D-Galactosamine (D-GalN, 600 mg/kg body weight, intraperitoneally) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 5 microg/rat, hypodermically) were used to produce a model of acute liver failure in Wistar rats. The mortality of the models was counted. The plasma peak levels of various cytokines and transaminases were measured. The pathological alterations of the livers were examined with hematoxylin and eosin stain under light microscopy. The expression of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)alpha mRNA was determined by dot blot hybridization combined with semiquantitative analysis.

RESULTS: It was found that Thal could lower the mortality of the models (P < 0.05); reduce the peak levels of plasma cytokines, especially TNFalpha, and transaminases (P < 0.05), alleviate the degree of liver injury and suppress the expression of TNFalpha mRNA (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION: It is fully demonstrated that Thal has definite protective effect on acute liver failure, as it does in other diseases. Even though Thal possesses teratogenic effect in patients with pregnancy, it is still believed that Thal has an important curative significance in the treatment of patients who are not pregnant.