Abstract: Objective: To explore the protective effect of Mori Fructus polysaccharide (MFP) on cadmium-induced liver injury in mice. Methods: Male Kunming mice were randomly divided into blank, model, positive control and MFP groups. Cadmium chloride (CdCl2) solution was intraperitoneally injected into mice for up to seven and 28 days to establish acute and chronic liver injury models, respectively. The liver index, routine blood parameters, the activity levels of asparate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels in liver homogenate, and pathological changes in the liver were observed to evaluate the therapeutic effect of MFP. Results: Compared with the acute liver injury model group, the activities of hepatic AST, ALT and ALP in the MFP group was decreased by 33.32%, 33.38% and 34.11%, respectively (P < 0.05), and the pathological changes in the liver were significantly improved. Compared with the chronic liver injury model group, MFP reduced the liver index of mice with liver injury by 21.20% (P < 0.01), decreased the activities of AST, ALT and ALP in liver homogenate by 27.01%, 33.46% and 29.69%, respectively (P < 0.01), and increased the mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) by 4.7% (P < 0.05). Conclusion: MFP has a protective effect on cadmium-induced liver injury. This finding provides evidence that MFP can be used in the prevention and treatment of cadmium-induced liver injury.

Key words: Mori Fructus polysaccharide; liver injury; cadmium chloride; protective effect