Preventive effects of a traditional Chinese medicine (sho-saiko-to) against oxygen toxicity and membrane damage during endotoxemia.

The preventive effects of a traditional Chinese medicine Sho-saiko-to (Kampo prescription, TJ-9) were determined from oxygen toxicity and membrane damage in liver during endotoxemia. The liver lipid peroxide level and xanthine oxidase activity 18 h after administration of endotoxin (6 mg/kg, i.p.) to TJ-9 (500 mg/kg/d, p.o.)-pretreated mice were markedly lower than that in endotoxin-treated mice, whereas the administration of TJ-9 significantly increased superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxide activities in liver of endotoxin-injected mice. In the mice pretreated with a TJ-9, the levels of alpha-tocopherol and nonprotein SH in liver tissue 18 h after endotoxin injection were markedly increased as compared to those in endotoxin-treated mice. Leakages of acid phosphatase and lactate dehydrogenase isozyme in serum were markedly lower in endotoxin-TJ-9-treated mice than those in mice given endotoxin. The administration of TJ-9 clearly prevented the membrane protein damage arising from endotoxin challenge. Kampo prescription Sho-saiko-to thus appears to protect the liver plasma membrane from injury by free radicals which occur in a tissue ischemic state during endotoxemia.