[Effects of thiol compounds on experimental liver damage (II). Preventive and therapeutic effects of tiopronin (2-mercaptopropionylglycine) and glutathione on ethionine induced liver damage (author's transl)].

Preventive and therapeutic effects of tiopronin (2-mercaptopropionylglycine) and glutathione on ethionine induced liver damage were studied. Administration of 1 g/kg ethionine resulted in significant differences in the degree of liver damage, and such was dependent on the feeding conditions of the animals. The present experiment was performed under the conditions where the most serious liver damage was observed. In the experiment on the preventive effects, serum GOT and GPT were markedly elevated by ethionine, but such elevation could be suppressed by administering tiopronin or glutathione 10 min before ethionine administration. Liver nonprotein thiol (NPSH) content decreased by 40--60% of the normal level 16 hr after ethionine adminstration, but increased by 30--45% 24 hr later. Administration of tiopronin suppressed the initial fall of liver NPSH content caused by ethionine, but this tendency was not observed in the glutathione treatment. Both liver cholesterol and triglyceride increased in the ethionine treated rats, and triglycerides in particular decreased with administration of tiopronin or glutathione. In the experiment on the therapeutic effects, the maximal values of serum GOT and GPT brought by ethionine were suppressed by the thiol compounds given 16 hr after ethionine administration, but liver NPSH content and liver lipids were not influenced. Thus, tiopronin and glutathione are considered to have preventive and therapeutic effects on liver damage induced by ethionine.