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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2010 Sep 1.
Published in final edited form as: Hepatology. 2009 Sep;50(3):834–843. doi: 10.1002/hep.23052

Figure 8. Effects of the COX-2 inhibitor, NS-398, and the EGFR inhibitor, AG1478, on serum transaminase activity and liver caspase activity levels.

Figure 8

The COX-2 Tg and wild type mice were injected intraperitoneally with the COX-2 inhibitor, NS-398 (5 mg/kg body weight) or the EGFR inhibitor, AG1478 (25 mg/kg body weight), 30 minutes before intraperitoneal administration of Jo2 (0.5 mg/kg body weight). The animals were sacrificed at 4 hours after Jo2 injection (6 mice per group). Upon sacrifice the blood samples were collected for serum transaminase analysis, whereas the liver tissues were harvested and homogenated for caspase activity analysis. (A) Serum ALT and AST levels in mice with or without inhibitor pretreatment (all the mice received Jo2 injection). *p<0.01 compared to the corresponding wild type mice without inhibitor pretreatment; **p<0.01 compared to the corresponding COX-2 Tg mice without inhibitor pretreatment (n = 6). (B) Liver caspases 3, 8, and 9 activities in mice with or without inhibitor pretreatment (all the mice received Jo2 injection). The liver tissue homogenates were analyzed for caspase-3, 9, and 8 activities by fluorometric assay with Ac-DEVD-AFC, Ac-LEHD-AFC, and Ac-IETD-AFC as the substrates, respectively. The data are expressed as mean ±SD of changes over wild type livers (n = 6 for each group). *p<0.01 compared to the wild type mice without inhibitor pretreatment; **p<0.01 compared to the corresponding COX-2 Tg mice without inhibitor pretreatment (n = 6).