[Effect of a water-soluble derivative of silymarin on morphological and functional alterations of mouse hepatocytes induced by Frog Virus 3 (author's transl)]. / Wirkung eines wasserlöslichen Derivates von Silymarin auf die durch Frog-Virus 3 an Mäusehepatozyten hervorgerufenen morphologischen und funktionellen Veränderungen.

Pretreatment of mice with silymarin dihemisuccinate sodium salt (SHS-Na) 300 mg/kg 24 and 16 h before infection completely protected against the lethal effect of Frog Virus 3 (FV3). After the inoculation of 1 LD100 of virus it could be shown that: a) the same amount of radioactively labelled virus was found in the liver of control and SHS-Na treated animals, b) in SHS-Na pretreated animals the shut-off of macromolecular syntheses in the liver was considerably less extensive, c) the histological changes in the hepatocyte nuclei were attenuated in SHS-Na pretreated animals and the serum titer of the transaminases did no increase, d) in SHS-Na pretreated mice there were only limited functional alterations of the sinusoidal cells as studied by carbon phagocytosis and the serum titer of the lysosomal enzymes was only slightly modified, e) inhibition of protein synthesis during the period of pretreatment with SHS-Na did not decrease the level of protection. These results allow us to conclude that SHS-Na exerts its protective effect on the liver and that sinusoidal cells are most likely involved in this protection.

[A novel model of experimental toxic hepatitis/acute degenerative hepatitis induced by frog virus 3 (FV3) in the mouse (author's transl)]. / Ein neues Modell der experimentellen toxischen Hepatitis Die akute degenerative Hepatitis der Maus, ausgelöst durch das Frog Virus 3 (FV3)

The i.p. or i.v. injection of frog virus 3 (FV3) in mice produces a hepatitis which leads to the death of the animals within 24 h. This hepatitis is of a purely toxic nature since the virus does not develop at 37 degrees C. The toxic effect of the virus, which can be differentiated from the infectious effect, involves one or more structural proteins. The first pathological changes occur during the first few hours after the injection in the vicinity of the nuclei of the liver parenchyma cells in the form of changes in the chromatin and nucleoplasm. The inhibition of the synthesis of cellular macromolecules and of the function of nuclear enzymes points to the fact that it is the nucleus that is first and foremost attacked. Necrosis and biochemical disturbances in the vicinity of the cytoplasm appear later on. Premedication of the mice with a water-soluble silymarin salt leads to a distinct rise in the survival rate of the animals. The protective function of silymarin is dependent on the dose and on the duration of the premedication. The LD50 of FV3 in those mice which had previously been given silymarin, is approximately three times that of the animals which received no premedication.