Liquiritigenin Protects Rats from Carbon Tetrachloride Induced Hepatic Injury through PGC-1α Pathway

Figure 6

A proposed model on how liquiritigenin alleviates CCl4-induced liver injuries. CCl4 inhibits the expression of PGC-1α, indirectly inhibits the expression of genes involved in mitochondrial function, antioxidant, and phase II detoxification, and directly inhibits the activities of antioxidant enzymes and phase II enzymes, which leads to oxidative stress, cell death inflammation, and fibrosis. Liquiritigenin prevents or reverse CCl4-induced liver injuries by derepressing PGC-1α expression and relieving the inhibition of antioxidant enzyme and phase II enzyme activities, leading to normalized expression of genes involved in mitochondrial function, antioxidant, and phase II detoxification, reduced oxidative stress, cell death inflammation, and fibrosis.