A Long-term Treatment with Silybin in Patients with Non-alcoholic Steatohepatitis Stimulates Catalase Activity in Human Endothelial Cells.

AIM: To compare levels of oxidative stress markers in patients' sera with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) treated for 12 months (T12 ) with silybin conjugated with phosphatidylcholine (Realsil®) (R) or placebo (P) and investigate oxidative stress responses in human endothelial cells conditioned with patients' sera.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: We recruited twenty-seven patients with histological NASH. We measured thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities in human endothelial cells conditioned with patients' sera exposed or not to H2 O2 Results: We found in decreased-TBARS patients' sera, at T12 , a decrease of alanine aminotransferase (p=0.038), transforming growth factor-beta (p=0.009) and procollagen I (p=0.001). By dividing patients into two groups, increased (P-I/R-I) and decreased TBARS (P-II/R-II) at T12 compared to T0 , we found an increased CAT activity in conditioned endothelial cells at T12 in both groups (p=0.05 and p=0.001, respectively).

CONCLUSION: Realsil® may be effective against endothelial dysfunction by stimulating the cellular antioxidant defense.