Gentiana Scabra Bge Extract (GSE) Protects Against Alcoholic Liver Disease by Regulating the TLR4/NF-B Pathway in Mice

Background: Alcohol abuse leads to alcoholic liver disease (ALD), for which no effective treatment is yet known. Gentiana Scabra Bge is a traditional Chinese medicine; its extract has a significant liver protection effect, but its effects on the mechanism of improving alcoholinduced toxicity remain unclear. Therefore, this study used cell and mouse models to investigate how Gentiana Scabra Bge extract (GSE) might affect the TLT4/NF-KB inflammation pathway in ALD. Methods: In mice, we induced the alcoholic liver injury model by applying alcohol and induced the inflammatory cell model by lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced macrophages. Using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit, aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and interleukin 10 (IL-10), interleukin 6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) levels were measured in liver tissue; we also performed histological analysis of liver tissue sections to assess the hepatoprotective effect of GSE on alcohol. Using real-time fluorescence quantification, we determined the expression of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and nuclear factor KB (NF-KB) mRNA levels; we used Western blotting to detect the expression of TLR4/NF-KB signaling pathway-related proteins. Results: We demonstrate that GSE decreased AST and ALT activity, ameliorated liver dysfunction, decreased cytokine levels, and reduced LPS-induced cellular inflammation. In addition, GSE protected mouse liver cells from the inflammatory response by reducing alcohol-induced liver pathological damage and downregulating genes and proteins such as nuclear factors. Conclusions: GSE can attenuate liver injury in mice through the TLR4/NF-KB pathway by inhibiting the activation of nuclear factors.