Hepatoprotective effect of silymarin (carsil) on liver of D-galactosamine treated rats. Biochemical and morphological investigations.

The hepatoprotective effect of carsil (generic name silymarin) on a model of liver intoxication with D-galactosamine in rats is studied. The changes in the activity of the serum enzymes GOT, GPT, MDH, SDH, ICDH, AP. AhE and the total protein as well as the UDP-sugars content in the liver is investigated. Histochemical and electronmicroscopical investigations of the liver are carried out simultaneously. It is obvious that carsil prevents to a considerable degree the increase of the serum enzymes activity caused by a D-galactosamine injury, enhances the metabolic conversion of the UDP-hexosamine into UDP-acetylhexosamine in the liver and hastens the normalizing of the UDP-glucuronic acid content in the liver of rats. The biochemical and morphological changes under the influence of carsil and the possible biochemical mechanism of the drug action is discussed.