Project description:Background and aims: Liver is a major target organ for alcohol-induced disease and the spectrum of pathological states elicited by alcohol in liver comprises steatosis, alcoholic steatohepatitis, progressive fibrosis and cirrhosis, conditions that may progress to hepatocellular carcinoma. Many experimental animal models of alcoholic steatohepatitis exist that vary in duration, mode of alcohol administration and the degree and types of liver injury produced. While most of these models, regardless whether alcohol is administered through liquid diet or intragastrically, produce steatohepatitis and mild fibrosis, it is widely acknowledged that these models fail to fully recapitulate key characteristics of severe forms of alcoholic liver disease, such as alcoholic hepatitis. Recent studies attempted to combine alcohol and fibrosis and achieved promising results in mouse models that achieve some of the key features of alcoholic liver disease accompanied by exacerbated fibrosis and acute renal injury. This study combined a chronic cholestatic liver fibrosis model induced by 3,5-diethoxycarbonyl-1,4-dihydrocollidine (DDC) with a mouse model of intragastric alcohol feeding. Methods: Adult male C57BL6/J mice were treated with 3,5-diethoxycarbonyl-1,4-dihydrocolidine (DDC) containing diet (0.05% w/w) to induce chronic liver fibrosis. Following DDC-induced fibrogenesis, ethyl alcohol (EtOH) (up to 27 g/ kg/day, up to 28 days) was administered continuously to mice via a gastric feeding tube (Tsukamoto-Frenchmodel of alcoholic liver disease). Results: Exposure to DDC or EtOH alone resulted in liver fibrosis or steatosis, respectively. Combined treatment with DDC and EtOH lead to an additive effect on liver injury, as evident by the development of hepatic inflammation, steatosis, and pericellular fibrosis, and by increased serum transaminase levels, compared to mice treated with either agent alone. Liver transcriptomic changes specific to combined treatment group included pathways involved in the cell cycle and DNA damage. Analyses of feces from these mice revealed alcohol-associated changes to the bile acid profile and gut microbiome. Conclusions: Mice treated with DDC and EtOH displayed several key characteristics of human alcoholic hepatitis, including pericellular fibrosis, increased hepatic bacterial load with dysbiosis, reduced capacity of the microbiome to synthesize secondary bile acids.
Project description:Fibrosis in the liver is a main histological determinant of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), a disease paralleling a worldwide surge in metabolic syndrome. Our study demonstrates that myeloid-specific YAP deficiency attenuates liver fibrosis after chronic liver injury via boosting type I interferon. Dopamine receptor D2 (DRD2) antagonization selectively blocks YAP in macrophages and thwarts liver fibrosis in both rodent and large animal models.
Project description:The mice were fed with Lieber-Decarli alcohol liquid diet and intraperitoneal injection of carbon tetrachloride to induce alcoholic liver fibrosis in mice. The drug group was treated with kinsenoside at the same time to study the protective effect and mechanism of kinsenoside on alcoholic liver injury in mice.
Project description:Exposure to high fat diet (HFD) and persistent organic pollutants including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) is associated with liver injury in human populations and with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and steatohepatitis (NASH) in animal models. Exposure of HFD-fed male mice to the non-dioxin-like (NDL) PCB mixture Aroclor1260 or to dioxin-like (DL) PCB126 or to the combination caused steatohepatitis and differentially altered the liver proteome with pathways involving epigenetic regulation of gene expression. Here unbiased RNA sequencing of miRNA (miRNA-seq) and subsequent network analysis to characterize the biological pathways altered by HFD and PCB exposure compared to HFD alone. Distinct miRNA expression patterns reveald a potential role of miRNAs in the pathogenesis of NAFLD. These results demonstrate miRNA and transcriptome pathways in PCB-related hepatic inflammation and fibrosis in a mouse model of NAFLD.
Project description:Purpose: The goal of the experiment is to obtain RNAseq profiles of Prom1+ Ductular Reactive Progenitors (DRPs) from mouse model of severe alcoholic liver injury Method: mRNA-seq analysis was performed in FACS sorted Prom1+CD49f+CD45-, Prom1-CD49f+CD45-, Prom1+CD49f+CD45+ cells and presorted CD45- liver cells. Conclusion: We obtained liver specific Prom1+ genes from analysis.
Project description:Alcoholic liver diseases (ALDs) encompass a broad spectrum of clinical features of alcoholic fatty liver, alcoholic steatohepatitis and cirrhosis, and increased risk of hepatocellular carcinoma. While the toxic effects of alcohol likely result from complex interactions between genes and the environment, the molecular mechanisms of alcohol-induced liver damage remains undefined. Thus, a better understanding of the mechanisms regulating hepatic cell injury may lead to more effective therapeutic approaches for ALD. Here we compared the miRNA expression profile from tissues from control mice and mice receiving intragastric ethanol feeding. Four microarray hybridization studies were performed on three different pairs of liver-derived RNA from intragastric ethanol feeding and normal mice. The miRNAs differentially overexpressed in livers from ethanol fed mice.
Project description:Death receptor-mediated hepatocyte apoptosis is implicated in a wide range of liver diseases including viral hepatitis, alcoholic hepatitis, ischemia/reperfusion injury, fulminant hepatic failure, cholestatic liver injury and cancer. Deletion of NF-ĸB essential modulator in hepatocytes (NemoΔhepa) causes the spontaneous development of hepatocellular carcinoma preceded by steatohepatitis in mice and thus serves as an excellent model for the progression from chronic hepatitis to liver cancer. In the present study we aimed to dissect the death-receptor mediated pathways that contribute to liver injury in NemoΔhepa mice. Therefore, we generated NemoΔhepa/TRAIL-/- and NemoΔhepa/TNFR1-/- animals and analyzed the progression of liver injury. NemoΔhepa/TRAIL-/- displayed a similar phenotype to NemoΔhepa mice characteristic of high apoptosis, infiltration of immune cells, hepatocyte proliferation and steatohepatitis. These pathophysiological features were significantly ameliorated in NemoΔhepa/TNFR1-/- livers. Hepatocyte apoptosis was increased in NemoΔhepa and NemoΔhepa/TRAIL-/- mice while NemoΔhepa/TNFR1-/- animals showed reduced cell death concomitant with a strong reduction in pJNK levels. Cell cycle parameters were significantly less activated in NemoΔhepa/TNFR1-/- livers. Additionally, markers of liver fibrosis and indicators of tumour progression were significantly decreased in these animals. The present data demonstrate that the death receptor TNFR1 but not TRAIL is important in determining progression of liver injury in hepatocyte-specific Nemo knockout mice. Expression profiling of livers from wild type, NEMO, NEMO-TRIAL, and NEMO-TNFR null mice
Project description:Simple steatosis (SS) and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) are subtypes of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. The difference in pathogenesis between SS and NASH is still not clear. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous, non-coding short RNAs that regulate gene expression. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship of miRNA expression profiles with SS and NASH in animal models and humans.