Abstract: Objective To investigate the effect of metadoxine（MT） on acute alcoholic liver injury in rats with alcohol-induced liver diseases（ALD）. Methods Twenty-four Wistar rats were randomly divided into normal control,alcoholic liver disease and metadoxine-intervened group,with 8 rats in each group. All rats were fed with normal chow. In the first two weeks,the rats in control and in ALD groups were administered normal saline,while in MT group were treated with metadoxine at dose of 300 mg·kg^-1·d^-1. The protocol lasted for 2 weeks. Then,the rats in ALD group and MT group were made acute liver injuries by alcohol gavage with 50%（v/v） ethanol at dose of 5 g·kg^-1 once every 12 hours,and a total of 3 times,while in rats in NC group were still administered normal saline. Eight hours after the last ethanol administration,the rats were sacrificed,and the blood and liver tissues were collected. The hepatic inflammatory cytokine mRNA was assayed by RT-PCR,and serum NF-κB,TNF-ɑ,IL-1β,IL-6,IL-8 and IL-10 levels were detected by ELISA. The t-test was used for statistical analysis. Results Serum ALT levels in ALD group elevated obviously than in control [（100.13±10.64） U/L vs. （33.37±4.81） U/L,P<0.05],and serum AST and GGT levels increased also（all P<0.05）;serum IL-10, IL-1β,TNF-α,IL-6,IL8 and NF-ΚB levels in control group were（14.73±2.03） pg/ml,（92.38±12.85） pg/ml,（2.66±0.81）pg/ml,（43.57±10.62） ng/ml,（0.29±0.07） ng/ml and （679.45±36.38） pg/ml,in ALD group were （16.19±1.94）pg/ml,（1927±233.69） pg/ml,（16.92±2.38） pg/ml,（127.49±9.33） ng/ml,（2.63±0.22） ng/ml and（1247.35±146.05）pg/ml,while in MT group were （36.81±4.53） pg/ml,（304.13±34.79） pg/ml,（8.83±1.01） pg/ml,（81.98±8.02） ng/ml,（1.45±0.22） ng/ml and（814.84±82.40） pg/ml,respectively,suggesting serum TNF-α,IL-1β,IL-6 and IL-8 levels were higher than those in control（all P<0.05）,serum TNF-α,IL-1β, IL6 and IL-8 levels in MT group were lower,and serum IL-10 level in MT group was higher than in ALD group（all P<0.05）;hepatic TNF-α,IL-1β,IL-6 and IL-8 mRNA levels in ALD group were much higher than in NC group（all P<0.05）,hepatic TNF-α,IL-1β,IL-6 and IL-8 mRNA levels in MT group were much lower,while IL-10 mRNA level much higher than in ALD group（P<0.05）. Conclusion Metadoxine can protect the alcohol-induced acute liver injuries by down-regulating pro-inflammatory cytokines and alleviating hepatic inflammation.

Key words: Alcoholic liver injuries, Metadoxine, Cytokines, NF-κB, Rats