ABSTRACT
Aim To evaluate the therapeutic effect of apigenin on liver fibrosis in mice anrl the pharmacologi¬cal mechanism.Methods Carbon tetrachloride ( CC14) -induced liver fibrosis mouse model was estab¬lished.The mice were divided into six groups of con¬trol, model, silibinin(55 mg • kg 1 • d 1 ) , apigenin in high dosage (60 mg • kg 1 • d 1 ) , apigenin in mid¬dle dosage( 30 mg • kg 1 • d 1 ) and apigenin in low dosage( 15 mg • kg 1 • d 1 ).The general life status, body weight and liver coefficient of the mice in every group were recorded.HE staining, Masson staining, immunohistochemistry and Western blot were used to e- valuate the effect of apigenin on the pathological chan¬ges, the markers related to epithelial-mesenchymal transition and signaling pathways of liver tissues.Re¬sults In CCI4-induced liver fibrosis mice, middle and high-dosage of apigenin could improve the general life status, increase body weight, decrease liver coeffi¬ cient, and significantly improve liver lesions.Middle and high-dosage of apigenin significantly increased the expression of the epithelial marker protein E-cadherin and significantly decreased the expression of the mes¬enchymal marker protein Vimentin in liver tissues of mice with the disease.The further results showed that middle and high-dosage apigenin could significantly in¬hibit the expression of phosphorvlated PDK1 and phos- phorvlated AKT protein in liver tissues of model mice.Conclusions Apigenin can inhibit EMT by inhibiting PDK1/AKT signaling pathway, which plays an anti-fi- brosis role.The apigenin has the potential to be further developed as a drug to protect the liver and treat liver fibrosis.