Abstract: Natural taurine widely exists in marine organisms,and it has been reported to exert certain anti-fibrosis activity.Matrix metalloproteinase(MMP-9),Integrin-β1 is closely related to liver fibrosis.In this study,liver cirrhosis rats were treated withdifferent doses of natural taurine(0.3,0.6,1.2 g/kg·d).Fourindices of serum liver fibrosis were analyzed by radioimmunoassay method.MMP-9,Integrin-β1 mRNA expression levels were detected in liver tissue through real-time PCR and related protein levels were determined by Western-blot analysis.The results showed that natural taurine can significantly reduce four indices of serum liver fibrosis in cirrhotic rats.In addition,natural taurinemarkedly reverted the elevated levels of MMP-9,integrin-β1 mRNA and related protein.The 0.6 g/kg·ddosage group showed the highest activity.These results indicated that natural taurine downregulating of MMP-9 and Integrin-β1 expression was closely associated with its protective effects against liver cirrhosis in rats.

Key words: cirrhosis, naturaltaurine, MMP-9, integrin-&beta, 1, ECM