Abstract: The protective effects of fucose were studied on immunological liver injury in mice induced by Bacillus calmetteguerin (BCG) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Thirty mice were divided into five groups randomly. On the first day, all mice were injected with BCG through tail vein except those in the normal group. Fucose-treated groups were daily administered by gavage at doses of 20 and 100 mg/(kg·d) from the second day, and the positive control group was administered with 0.1 mg/(kg·d) DXM. The normal and model groups synchronously were treated with distilled water at the same amount for 14 days. Two hours after the last gavage, all mice were injected with LPS through tail vein except those in the normal group. The live and spleen indexes of mice were computed. The activities of ALT, AST, SOD and CAT in serum were determined by commercial kits according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The contents of MDA, NO, TNF-α and IL-1β in serum were detected as well. The liver was sliced and pathological examination was implemented via light microscope. The contents of NF-κB and IκBα in liver tissue after nuclear plasma separation were detected through Western blot. In the high-dose fucose group, the increase in liver and spleen indexes were greatly controlled in comparison with the model group, and the activities of ALT, AST and the contents of MDA, NO, TNF-α, IL-1β and NF-κB were reduced, while the activities of SOD and CAT and the content of IκBα were improved (P < 0.05). The hepatopathy of mice was reversed according to the pathological section, which was roughly comparable to the normal group. Immunological liver injury induced by BCG adjuvant can be alleviated or suppressed by fucose via the NF-κB/IκBα pathway.

Key words: oxidative stress, liver injury, Bacillus calmette-guerin, lipopolysaccharide, nuclear factor-κB