Abstract: Objective To study the protective effect of neferine on acute liver injury induced by D- GalN / LPS in mice. Methods 80 mice were randomly divided into four groups, 20 in each and the mice in normal control and model group, saline was given by gavage, and the mice in the other two experiment groups was given intragasticly neferine at low （100 mg.kg^-1）and large （300 mg.kg^-1） dose. At the end of the last administration, 10 mice in each group were sacrificed to obtain blood for serum ALT, AST, SOD, MDA, GSH, TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-10 detection, and another ten mice in each group were followed-up for survival observation. The hepatic pathological examination were also performed. Results Serum ALT and AST levels in the model group were（272.4±42.8） U/L and（497.2±62.1） U/L,respectively, while they significantly decreased in neferine-intervened groups （P<0.05）,especially in mice with large neferine intervention;serum SOD and GSH levels in the model were （37.5±6.2） U/ml and （11.8±2.7） μmol/L,serum MDA level was （9.2±1.4）mol/L, while serum SOD and GSH levels in neferine-intervened groups significantly increased and serum MDA level significantly decreased （P<0.05）;serum TNF-α,IL-6 and IL-10 levels in the model were （587.6±48.9）pg/ml, （153.4±18.0） pg/ml and （96.4±9.7）pg/ml,respectively,while serum TNF-α and IL-6 levels in neferine-intervened groups significantly decreased, and serum IL-10 level significantly increased（P<0.05）,without significant differences between the two neferine-intervend groups（P>0.05）; the 12 h and 24 h survival rates in the model were 60.0% and 10.0%,while they were 80.0% and 50.0% in low-dose neferine-intervened group, and 90.0% and 70.0% in large-dose neferine-intervened group （P<0.05）. Conclusion Neferine can alleviate acute liver injury induced by D- GalN / LPS administration in mice, and the mechanism might be related to the inhibition of oxidative stress.

Key words: Acute liver injury, Neferine, Oxidative stress, D- GalN, LPS, Mice