EFFECT OF ANTIHEPATOTOXIC AGENTS AGAINST MICROCYSTIN-LR TOXICITY IN CULTURED RAT HEPATOCYTES

Primary cultures of adult rat hepatocytes were used to investigate the effects of two putative therapeutic agents, dithioerythritol and silymarin on microcystin-LR-induced hepatotoxicity. Cell injury was assessed by the extent of cellular [14C]adenine nucleotides and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release into the medium and the extent of hepatocyte detachment from monolayers. Microcystin-LR (1 µM) induced a significant release of both 14C-labeled nucleotides and LDH from hepatocytes as well as significant detachment of cells from monolayers. Although both dithioerythritol (0.63–5 m M) and silymarin (25–200 µM) reduced the amount of marker release and cell detachment from microcystin-LR-treated wells, silymarin provided significantly greater protection than dithioerythritol at one-tenth the concentration. Furthermore, silymarin and dithioerythritol treatment prevented morphological deformations and detachment of cells. © 1990, Plenum Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.