Liver toxicity: For supportive treatment in patients with chronic inflammatory liver disease or cirrhosis.
Silymarin is a herbal active component of the OTC product Karsil®, obtained from extracts of the fruits of the milk thistle plant (Silybum marianum).
It has a hepatoprotective and antioxidant effect. Karsil® inhibits the penetration of toxins into the liver cells (shown on the poisons of the pale toadstool), and also causes physico-chemical stabilization of the cell membrane of hepatocytes, limits or prevents the loss of soluble components (including transaminases) of liver cells.
The antioxidant effect of Karsil® is due to the interaction of silibinin with free radicals in the liver and their transformation into less toxic compounds. Thus, the process of lipid peroxidation is interrupted and no further destruction of cellular structures occurs; toxins are neutralized physiologically.
Silymarin stimulates the synthesis of proteins (structural and functional) and phospholipids in damaged liver cells (normalizing lipid metabolism), stabilizes their cell membranes, binds free radicals (antioxidant action), thus protecting liver cells from harmful effects and promotes their regeneration. The clinical effect of the product Karsil® is manifested in the improvement of the general condition of patients with liver diseases, the reduction of subjective complaints (such as weakness, a feeling of heaviness in the right hypochondrium, loss of appetite, itching, vomiting). Laboratory indicators improve: the activity of transaminases, gamma-glutamyl transferase, alkaline phosphatase and the level of bilirubin in the blood plasma decrease. Long-term use of Karsil® significantly increases the survival rate of patients suffering from liver cirrhosis.