Objective: To investigate the mechanism of plasma exchange in the treatment of severe hepatitis, by studying the changes of serum nitric oxide (NO) and transforming growth factor-β 1 (TGF-β 1) in patients with severe hepatitis before and after plasma exchange. Methods: Select 50 cases of normal control group, 35 cases of acute severe hepatitis group, 33 cases of chronic severe hepatitis, 23 cases of early severe hepatitis group, 20 cases of medium severe hepatitis group and 25 cases of late

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... re hepatitis group; among them, the plasma exchange group and control group were both of 34 cases. The level of serum TGE-β 1 was measured by enzyme-linked im-munosorbent assay, serum NO level was detected by Griess. Compare levels of serum NO and TGF-β 1 between the groups, and carry out statistical analysis. Results: The levels of serum NO, TGF-β 1 of patients in each group were higher than that of normal control group (P<0.05), besides, the expressions of serum NO (151.5±44.65 ng/L)_and TGF-β 1 (176.7±45.24 ng/L) in late severe hepatitis patients were the highest in different stages of severe hepatitis groups. Levels of serum NO and TGF-β 1 in patients with severe hepatitis treated with plasma exchange were significantly decreased. Compared with those before treatment, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). As for the treatment group, the expression levels of serum NO and TGF-β 1 in the patients with effective treatment were significantly lower than that before treatment (P<0.05), and the levels of serum NO and TGF-β 1 in the patients with ineffective treatment were not significantly changed compared with those before treatment. Conclusion: The effects of plasma exchange on the expression of serum NO and TGF-β 1 were effective, besides, it significantly reduced the damage of inflammatory reaction to liver cells and improved the prognosis of patients with severe hepatitis. Hence, the detection of NO and TGF-β 1 indicators is helpful in evaluating the conditions as well as guiding treatment strategies .