Magnesium isoglycyrrhizinate promotes the activated hepatic stellate cells apoptosis via endoplasmic reticulum stress and ameliorates fibrogenesis in vitro and in vivo.

Varied pathogenetic elements have been touched upon the liver fibrosis, including inflammatory, stress, apoptosis and unfolded proteins aggregation. Magnesium Isoglycyrrhizinate (MgIG) has been accepted to be a neuroprotective effect, hepatoprotective and anti-inflammatory molecule. In our vitro researches, MgIG was considered to activate hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) apoptosis by promoting endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) detrimental response to a certain extent. Consequently, MgIG showed its potential therapeutic capacity in fibrogenesis and counteracted the pathogenetic aspects, which were involved in integrating current treatments correcting liver fibrosis. In addition, we further verificated the behavior and pathogenic mechanisms in the CCl4 -induced liver fibrosis in male mice. What surprised us was that with the treatment of MgIG caused the activation of ERS and resisted the activated HSCs in the protective effects on liver damage. We found MgIG significantly promoted the apoptosis of activated HSCs and protected the CCl4 -induced liver fibrosis. Main molecules came down to the unfolded protein response signaling pathway. Furthermore, MgIG inhibited the levels of the downstream inflammatory cytokines, which were triggered by CCl4 -induced liver fibrosis. Here, we reported that MgIG improved behavioral impairments induced by intraperitoneal injection of CCl4 and decreased the expression of proinflammatory factor, which indicated the preserving effects on liver fibrosis. © 2017 BioFactors, 43(6):836-846, 2017.