Fig. 1

Main hepatic effects of silymarin in vivo and in vitro and by doses/concentrations. The figure displays an overview on dose- or concentration-dependent effects of silymarin. For in vivo data the dotted line marks the threshold of doses above the therapeutic range in mice and humans [130]. The threshold used for the evaluation of in vitro effects of silymarin observed at concentrations representative for the therapeutic range in vivo was calculated according to the possible C_max after a single oral dose of 600 mg silymarin as referred to in Wen Z., et al. [29]. The threshold used for representative in vitro data corresponded to approximately 34 times the near peak plasma levels after a single human dose of 600 mg silymarin. For references see Additional file 2