Protective effects of ursodeoxycholic acid on chenodeoxycholic acid-induced liver injury in hamsters

Table 1 Body weight changes and food intake during the experiment (mean ± SE)

Group	Body weight (g)		Weight gain	Food intake
	Before theexperiment	End of theexperiment	(g)	(g/d)
Normal	104.8 ± 2.5	110.6 ± 3.3	5.8 ± 1.8	7.1 ± 0.2
Control	103.7 ± 2.5	106.9 ± 1.9	3.2 ± 1.2	6.5 ± 0.3
UDCA 50 mg/kg	103.1 ± 2.9	104.7 ± 3.1	1.6 ± 1.3	6.2 ± 0.4
UDCA 150 mg/kg	104.7 ± 2.1	107.2 ± 1.9	2.5 ± 1.6	6.2 ± 0.2

UDCA: Ursodeoxycholic acid. There was no significant difference between normal and control groups (Student’s t-test). There was no significant difference between the control group and UDCA groups (Dunnett’s multiple comparison test).

Table 2 Effect of UDCA on histological extent of CDCA-induced liver injury in hamsters

		Grade
	Findings	-	±	+
Normal	Vacuolation (Hydropic swelling)	9	0	0
Control		0	2	7
UDCA 150 mg/kg		9	0	0
Normal		8	1	0
Control	Cell infiltration	8	1	0
UDCA 150 mg/kg		7	2	0
Normal		8	1	0
Control	Focal necrosis	8	1	0
UDCA 150 mg/kg		7	2	0

UDCA: Ursodeoxycholic acid; CDCA: Chenodeoxycholic acid. Grades are as follows: -: no change, ±: slight change, +: mild change.

Table 3 Effects of UDCA on liver bile acids concentration and composition in hamsters fed CDCA (n = 9, mean ± SD)

	Normal		Control		UDCA 150 mg/kg
	nmol/g liver	%	nmol/g liver	%	nmol/g liver	%
UDCA	1.9 ± 2.2	1.2 ± 1.3	4.0 ± 0.9a	0.9 ± 0.3	27.4 ± 12.8d	9.5 ± 4.9d
CA	102.0 ± 41.7	68.2 ± 3.2	20.9 ± 13.8b	4.0 ± 1.1b	12.8 ± 3.8	4.4 ± 1.2
CDCA	36.0 ± 17.1	23.8 ± 3.6	364.9 ± 141.5b	75.3 ± 2.7b	196.4 ± 65.3d	66.0 ± 4.7d
DCA	10.3 ± 4.4	6.8 ± 1.3	5.6 ± 3.2a	1.1 ± 0.3b	3.3 ± 2.2	1.1 ± 0.7
LCA	< 1	0.0	89.4 ± 32.4b	18.7 ± 2.0b	56.0 ± 15.7c	19.1 ± 1.9
Total	150.2 ± 62.9		484.7 ± 189.7b		296.0 ± 88.0c

UDCA: Ursodeoxycholic acid; CA: Cholic acid; CDCA: Chenodeoxycholic acid; DCA: Deoxycholic acid; LCA: Lithocholic acid.

^aP < 0.05,

^bP < 0.01 vs normal group;

^cP < 0.05,

^dP < 0.01 vs control group (Student’s t-test).