Abstract: Objective: To study the effect of Connexin（Cx）26 on acute liver injury induced by D-galactosamine in rats. Methods:
To establish the model of acute liver injury induced by D-galactosamine, bifendatatum was used as positive drug. The liver-body
ratio, serum aspartate aminotransferase（AST）and alanine aminotransferase（ALT）levels were measured. Pathological changes were
observed by microscope. Cx26 protein was quantitatively analyzed by Western Blot（WB）. The mRNA expression of Cx26 was
detected by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction （Real-time qPCR）. Results: D-galactosamine caused acute liver
injury, cell necrosis was observed and inflammatory reaction was induced. The content of AST and ALT was significantly increased
（P < 0.05）. The protein content of Cx26 in the liver increased significantly （P < 0.05）, while the mRNA content decreased
significantly（P < 0.01）. Intervention with bifendatatum did not reverse the damage caused by D-galactosamine and the abnormal
expression of Cx26. Conclusion: D-galactosamine can cause abnormal increase of Cx26 protein expression in rat liver, which may be
one of the pathogenic mechanisms, and also provide a potential target for the treatment of liver injury.

Key words: connexin, Cx26, acute liver injury, D-galactosamine