Etanercept is a soluble TNF receptor construct that inactivates TNF. Etanercept (8 mg/kg, sc) injected 1 h before LPS inhibited the biological activity of TNF in rats and was not hepatotoxic by itself (Tukov et al., 2007; Zou et al., 2009a) . The same treatment was used in this study. AMD/LPS cotreatment increased serum ALT activity, and etanercept significantly attenuated this increase (Fig. 9A) . Changes in serum ALT activity were supported by histological Rats were treated with AMD (400 mg/kg, ip) or vehicle and 16 h later with LPS (1.6 3 10 6 EU/kg, iv) or saline. They were examined 2, 4, 6, or 10 h after LPS injection. Activities of (A) ALT and (B) AST in serum were measured. # indicates significantly different from respective groups not given LPS; * indicates significantly different from respective group not given AMD. p < 0.05, n ¼ 4-9.