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OBJECTIVE: Acute liver injury (ALI) is mainly characterized by the symptom of metabolic disorders, homeostasis unbalance, and loss of liver function. There are no effective treatment methods at present stage except the liver transplantation. Effective treatment for early ALI is of great significance for the treatment of liver injury thereof. Glycyrrhizin (GL) is a promising inhibitor of the high-mobility group box-1 gene (HMGB1) which is expressed much higher in an inflammatory injury. However, it is not clear whether GL improves ALI via the inhibition of HMGB1. The present study is to probe the function and mechanism of glycyrrhizin on acute liver injury. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The expression of HMGB1 and inflammation in liver macrophages were analyzed. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was used in stimulating the macrophages to activate inflammatory response and recombined human HMGB1 was used to resist the function of GL to explore whether GL acted via the target of HMGB1. Then, LPS injection was utilized to induce ALI in mice, and then we evaluated GL treatment in ALI model. RESULTS: The results showed that the expressions of HMGB1 and inflammatory factors were markedly increased in LPS-activated liver macrophages. GL inhibited the progress of macrophages inflammation by restraining HMGB1, and the administration of GL could reverse the effects of LPS-induced ALI in mice. Moreover, PI3K/mTOR pathway was significantly suppressed by GL application. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that GL prevents inflammation in liver macrophages via inhibition of HMGB1. GL restrains inflammation and cell apoptosis by inhibiting HMGB1 via PI3K/mTOR signaling pathway in ALI. GL may become a novel drug for the therapy of ALI in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the high purity Ti powder was prepared by molten salt electrolysis. The impurity content and micromorphology of Ti powder were systematically studied. The results showed that the main impurities in electrolytic Ti were Mn, Al, Cr, Fe, Ti, N, C and O, and the impurity originations and distributions were disclosed. Increase in the initial soluble Ti ion concentration can reduce the impurity content effectively. The electrolysis devices should be made by Ti alloy, which enables the impurity contents in Ti powder to be much lower than electrolysis devices made by other materials. After the electrolysis, the electrolytic Ti at the upside of cathode was platy bulk and dense, while the downside was loose powder. High current density and low soluble Ti concentration could produce dendritic and fine electrolytic Ti powder, and conversely, the electrolytic Ti powder was coarse polygon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]