Nonalcoholic fatty liver sensitizes rats to carbon tetrachloride hepatotoxicity

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2007

Abstract

This study tested whether hepatic steatosis sensitizes liver to toxicant-induced injury and investigated the potential mechanisms of hepatotoxic sensitivity. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed a methionine- and choline-deficient diet for 31 days to induce steatosis. On the 32nd day, administration of a nonlethal dose of CCl4 (2 mL/kg, intraperitoneally) yielded 70% mortality in steatotic rats 12-72 hours after CCl4 administration, whereas all nonsteatotic rats survived. Neither CYP2E1 levels nor covalent binding of [14C]CCl4-derived radiolabel differed between the groups, suggesting that increased bioactivation is not the mechanism for this amplified toxicity. Cell division and tissue repair, assessed by [3H]thymidine incorporation and proliferative cell nuclear antigen assay, were inhibited in the steatotic livers after CCl4 administration and led to progressive expansion of liver injury culminating in mortality. The hypothesis that fatty hepatocytes undergo cell cycle arrest due to (1) an inability to replenish ATP due to overexpressed uncoupling protein-2 (UCP-2) or (2) induction of growth inhibitor p21 leading to G1/S phase arrest was tested. Steatotic livers showed 10-fold lower ATP levels due to upregulated UCP-2 throughout the time course after CCl 4 administration, leading to sustained inhibition of cell division. Western blot analysis revealed an up-regulation of p21 due to overexpression of TGF ß1 and p53 and downregulation of transcription factor Foxm1b in steatotic livers leading to lower phosphorylated retinoblastoma protein. Thus, fatty hepatocytes fail to undergo compensatory cell division, rendering the liver susceptible to progression of liver injury. Conclusion: Impaired tissue repair sensitizes the steatotic livers to hepatotoxicity. Copyright © 2007 by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

Publication Title

Hepatology

Volume

45

Issue

2

First Page

391

Last Page

403

Comments

This article was published in Hepatology, Volume 45, Issue 2, Pages 391-403.

The published version is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hep.21530.

Copyright © 2007 Scopus.

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