2.2.8. Hepatoprotective Effect

The liver is the largest organ in the abdominal cavity and performs critical physiological functions. Acute liver failure is caused by liver injury, which is mainly caused by viral infections, drugs, food additives, alcohol, or radioactivity [46]. Fucosterol has a potent hepatoprotective effect by increasing GSH levels and decreasing ROS production, thereby preventing liver damage and increasing liver enzyme levels alanine aminotransferase/ aspartate aminotransferase (ALT/AST) [47]. Fucosterol is a dual-LXR agonist that regulates the expression of key genes involved in cholesterol homeostasis in several cell lines without causing triglyceride accumulation in the liver [48,49]. In addition, a study by Mo et al. [50] showed that fucosterol can relieve acute liver injury induced by ConA by inhibiting P38 MAPK/PPARγ/NF-κB signaling, suggesting that fucosterol is a promising potential therapeutic agen<sup>t</sup> for acute liver injury.
