Materials and Methods: In this case-control animal study, a total of 32 male Wistar rats (n=8 in each) were surveyed. The animals were randomly assigned into four equal groups as follows: Group 1 (Control): the rats underwent a midline laparotomy with normal saline injection; Group 2 (SILI): the rats received Silibinin (50 mg/kg) after laparotomy; Group 3 (I/R): the rats underwent I/R surgery and received normal saline; and Group 4 (I/R+SILI): the rats received silibinin before ischemia and directly following reperfusion. Blood and liver tissue samples were taken after three hours of reperfusion aftermath 1-hour ischemia to evaluate histological changes, gene expression, and serum markers of hepatic injury.

Results: While the serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels in the I/R group significantly increased compared to the control group (P < 0.001), they significantly decreased in the SILI+I/R group (P < 0.001). Silibinin ameliorated inflammatory impairments of liver tissue, such as neutrophil and macrophage infiltration and activation, hepatocyte degeneration and vacuolation, hepatic vascular endothelial damage, and sinusoid proliferation in the I/R group. The expression of the Panx1 mRNA during I/R significantly increased compared to the control group (P < 0.001), but silibinin reduced the expression (P < 0.001).

Conclusions: We witnessed that silibinin reduced liver tissue damages during hepatic I/R. Correcting the expression of the Panx1 gene during I/R is probably one of the mechanisms of anti-inflammatory effects of silibinin.