PREVENTION BY SILYBIN OF PHALLOIDIN-INDUCED ACUTE HEPATOXICITY

In mice, the acute hermorrhagic necrosis of the liver induced by phalloidin was prevented by treatment with silybin, a plant compound isolated from Silybum marianum L. Gaertn. By electron microscopy, the first changes induced by the toxin were detected at the level of the hepatocytic plasmalemma and were followed by the development of cytoplasmic vacuoles containing blood-derived material. These morphologic changes can be correlated with enhancement of serum activities of glutamic pyruvic and oxaloacetic transaminases and of lysosomal hydrolases. Pretreatment with a single dose of silybin completely abolished the morphologic changes induced by the toxin and significantly decreased the activities of serum enzymes. Silybin when given alone did not result in changes of serum enzymes activities or of hepatocytic ultrastructure. © 1979.