Alcoholic Steatosis in Different Strains of Rat: A Comparative Study.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Different strains of rats have been used to study alcoholic liver disease (ALD) while the reason for selecting a particular rat strain was not apparent. PURPOSE:The aim of our study was to compare outbred (Wistar) and inbred (Fischer) strains to evaluate pathological, biochemical changes, and gene expression differences associated with ethanol-induced early hepatic steatosis. STUDY DESIGN:Male Wistar and Fischer-344 rats were pair-fed for 6 weeks with or without 5% ethanol in Lieber-DeCarli liquid diet. Livers were analyzed for histological and lipid-related differences. RESULTS:Hepatic midzonal steatosis was mainly found in Wistar rats while Fischer rats showed mostly pericentral steatosis. Increased hepatic steatosis in ethanol-fed Wistar rats is supported by increases in lipids with related genes and transcription factors involved in fatty acid and triglyceride synthesis. CONCLUSION:Our data showed that Fischer rats are relatively less prone to ethanol-mediated steatosis with pericentral lipid deposition pattern in the liver which is similar to humans and show no trace level of lipid accumulation in pair-fed controls as observed in Wistar (outbred) strain. Therefore, Fischer rats are better suited for lipid studies in an early development of ALD.

SUBMITTER: Bhopale KK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4874529 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature