Insights into the protective mechanisms of N-acetyl cysteine against D-Galactosamine induced acute liver injury in rabbits

Pre-clinical studies in test animals like rodents, rabbits and pigs are extremely important in establishing the efficacy of therapeutic interventions ranging from formulations to medical devices. Diseases like acute liver failure (ALF) are although rare, but most often culminate into a situation where the patient needs an emergency liver transplant. Currently, not many medications are available to manage such patients. Out of the very few available options, N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) is the clinicians drug-of-choice. Administration of NAC has shown improvements in patients survival in the hospitals. Yet the mechanism and its systematic investigation in pre-clinical models like rabbits remains undone. In this report, we establish a drug-induced, controlled-ALF in rabbits using D-galactosamine (D-Gal). We also test the efficacy of NAC in this model system. We support the in-vivo findings with detailed in-vitro assays where we attempt to understand the mechanisms of the prophylactic usage of NAC against D-Gal induced ALF.