Tanshinone IIA protects rat primary hepatocytes against carbon tetrachloride toxicity via inhibiting mitochondria permeability transition

Figures & data

Figure 1.  CCl₄-induced decrease of rat primary hepatocyte viability. Rat primary hepatocytes cultured with CCl₄ (1, 2, and 3 μM) for 24 h caused significant decrease of viability (n = 8). Significant difference from (vehicle) control cultures, *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01.

Figure 2.  Induction of mitochondrial swelling by CCl₄ in isolated hepatic mitochondria. (A) Swelling effect monitored as the decrease of absorbance at 540 nm in energized mitochondria, CCl₄ was added where indicated. Note that 20 μM Ca²⁺ alone could not induce mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT). Mitochondrial swelling was inhibited by adding 1 μM CsA. (B) Swelling effect monitored at A540 as in (A). Ca²⁺ (20 μM final concentration) was used as the control. 75 μM Tan IIA could inhibit 1 μM CCl₄-induced mitochondrial swelling. The data represent a typical experiment conducted at least three times with similar results.

Figure 3.  The effects of Tan IIA on CCl₄-induced decrease of the mitochondrial transmembrane potential (MMP) of rat primary hepatocytes (n = 8). CsA was referred to as the positive control. Significant difference from (vehicle) control cultures, *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01.