Abstract: AIM: To study the protective efficacy and mechanism of sodium ferulate on CCl4-induced liver injury in mice.METHODS: CCl4-induced acute liver injury model was made in mice.Serum levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT)and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) criteria, activities of catalase (Cat), glutathione S-transferase (GST), monoamine oxidase (MAO), Na⁺, K⁺-ATPase, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺-ATPase and membrane fluidity in liver cytosol and mitochondrion were measured.RESULTS: Based on the condition that serum levels of ALT and AST increased in mice induced by CCl4, the activity of mitochondrional MAO significantly increased, and the activities of cytosol Cat and GST, the values of mitochondria fluorescence polarization, and mean microviscosity decreased.Meanwhile, the activities of Na⁺, K⁺- and Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺-ATP ase showed the increasing tendency. Pretreatment with sodium ferulate (50-150 mg·kg^-1 ip, qd ×9)could inverse these alterations above obviously, and showed the dose-dependent changes.CONCLUSION: The hepatic-protective action of sodium ferulate may be related with the reinforcement of liver glutathione conjugation catalyzed by GST, the recoveries of mitochondria membrane fluidity and ATPase activities as well as its antioxidative effect.

Key words: sodium ferulate, glutathione transferases, mitochondria, membrane fluidity, ATPase