Defense effects of a traditional Chinese medicine (sho-saiko-to) against metabolic disorders during endotoxemia; approached from the behavior of the calcium ion.

The present study was carried out as an approach from intracellular Ca2+ to clarify the preventive effects of a traditional Chinese medicine, Sho-saiko-to (Kampo prescription, TJ-9), against various metabolic disorders during endotoxemia. In this experiment, we estimated the cytosolic-free Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) in liver single cells using a photonic microscope system. The [Ca2+]i in a single liver cell of endotoxin (6 mg/kg, i.p.)-injected mice was greater at 18 h post-intoxication than that in the control, whereas the administration of endotoxinin to TJ-9 (500 mg/kg/d, p.o.)-pretreated mice resulted in a markedly lower level of [Ca2+]i than that in endotoxin-treated mice. In the mice pretreated with TJ-9, the CA(2+)-ATPase activity in liver plasma membrane 18 h after endotoxin injection was markedly increased as compared to that in the endotoxin-treated mice. By contrast, the Ca(2+)-ATPase activity in liver mitochondria was lower in endotoxemic mice pretreated with TJ-9 than in mice given endotoxin alone. State 3 respiration and the respiratory control index (RCI), which are the parameters of mitochondrial function, were 41% and 35% lower, respectively, in the liver of mice given endotoxin than those levels in the control. However, the levels of state 3 and RCI in endotoxin-TJ-9-treated mice were markedly increased as compared to those of the endotoxin-treated mice. These findings suggest the protective effect of TJ-9 in the damage of liver mitochondrial function in endotoxin-poisoned mice.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)