[Effect of a water-soluble derivative of silymarin on morphological and functional alterations of mouse hepatocytes induced by Frog Virus 3 (author's transl)].

Pretreatment of mice with silymarin dihemisuccinate sodium salt (SHS-Na) 300 mg/kg 24 and 16 h before infection completely protected against the lethal effect of Frog Virus 3 (FV3). After the inoculation of 1 LD100 of virus it could be shown that: a) the same amount of radioactively labelled virus was found in the liver of control and SHS-Na treated animals, b) in SHS-Na pretreated animals the shut-off of macromolecular syntheses in the liver was considerably less extensive, c) the histological changes in the hepatocyte nuclei were attenuated in SHS-Na pretreated animals and the serum titer of the transaminases did no increase, d) in SHS-Na pretreated mice there were only limited functional alterations of the sinusoidal cells as studied by carbon phagocytosis and the serum titer of the lysosomal enzymes was only slightly modified, e) inhibition of protein synthesis during the period of pretreatment with SHS-Na did not decrease the level of protection. These results allow us to conclude that SHS-Na exerts its protective effect on the liver and that sinusoidal cells are most likely involved in this protection.