The effect of“luminacoid”, such as indigestible-oligosaccharideand dietary fiber, on the development of hepatic injury has notbeen investigated sufficiently up to now. In this report, wedescribe recent progress in the study using Dgalactosamine- inducedhepatitis model in rats.
　Indigestible-oligosaccharides, such as raffinose,galacto-oligosaccharides and lactulose were ingested precedently ascomponents as dietary components, and were shown to suppress thedevelopment of D-galactosamine-induced hepatic injury in rats. Cornbran hemicellulose, a dietary fiber, was also found to alleviatethe development of the hepatic injury, and, in this case, thesuppressive activity of the component with a relatively low degreeof polymerization was considered to be greater than that with highdegree of polymerization. In addition, Biobran/MGN-3, a rice branhemicellulose treated with enzymes from a basidiomycete, wasobserved to protect the rats from deterioration of the hepaticinjury only when administered at 1 h before theD-galactosamine-injection. Among the 11 edible seaweeds in Japan,Tengusa (Gelidiales Gelidiaceae Gelidium sp.), Kombu（LaminarialesLaminariaceae Laminaria sp.），Hondawara（Fucales SargassaceaeSargassum fulvellum）and Arame（Laminariales Laminariaceae Eiseniabicyclis） were found to attenuate the development of hepatic injuryinduced by D-galactosamine, and the attenuation was considered tobe caused, at least in part, by fucoidan.
　The suppressive action of these indigestible-oligosaccharides,corn bran hemicellulose and seaweed dietary fibers may be mediatedby their fermentation, because the suppressive activity wasabolished when neomycin, an inabsorbable antibiotic, wasadministered simultaneously.

Key words: raffinose, galacto-oligosaccharides, lactulose,hemicellulose, seaweed, galactosamine, hepatitis