Gene expression in regenerating and acute-phase rat liver

Abstract

The integration of growth and the acute-phase response is investigated by comparing the mRNA levels in rat liver during acute inflammation with those after partial hepatectomy. Northern analysis is carried out for the mRNAs for thiostatin, alpha 2-macroglobulin, alpha 1-antitrypsin, inter-alpha-trypsin inhibitor subunit 1, haptoglobin, ceruloplasmin, transferrin, vitamin D-binding protein, alpha 1-acid glycoprotein, beta-fibrinogen, apolipoproteins A-IV and E, albumin, transthyretin, alpha 2-HS-glycoprotein, retinol-binding protein, beta-tubulin, c-myc protooncogene, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase, ornithine transcarbamylase, and alcohol dehydrogenase. The acute-phase response dominates during the first 18 h. Changes in mRNA levels related to growth of the liver become important thereafter, and the capacity for an acute-phase response of plasma protein synthesis becomes greatly reduced. The early increase in the level of ceruloplasmin mRNA observed during inflammation is abolished during regeneration, and that of vitamin D-binding protein mRNA is converted into a decrease. The mRNAs levels of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase increase, and those for phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase decrease during regeneration. Ornithine transcarbamylase mRNA levels are found to exhibit negative acute-phase regulation. The pattern of transcriptional regulation is similar during inflammation and regeneration.

Fetuin-B, a second member of the fetuin family in mammals

“…A time-course study of these hepatic mRNA levels following a TO challenge is shown in Figure 3. The fetuin-A mRNA level was transiently down-regulated as expected from former reports [23,36] while the mRNA level for a positive APP used as a control, namely the IαIH4P protein of the Inter-α-Inhibitor family, was transiently up-regulated as described previously [37]. The level of fetuin-B mRNA was down-regulated as early as 9 h post-TO, reached a 2-fold decrease at days 1-2 and returned to a normal value beyond 1 week, which on the whole is similar to the variations seen for the fetuin-A mRNA level.…”

“…In all groups, total hepatic RNAs from five animals were pooled, separated by electrophoresis, blotted and successively hybridized with four rat cDNA probes, namely those for (i) fetuin-A, (ii) fetuin-B, (iii) IαIH4P used herein as a control for a positive APP mRNA [28,37] and (iv) GAPDH used as a control for an mRNA whose level does not vary in liver during APR [36,37]. A single blot was used throughout the study.…”

Dietary determinants of subclinical inflammation, dyslipidemia and components of the metabolic syndrome in overweight children: a review

“…117,118 In the Swiss study, 106 although indices of inflammation were increased in the obese children, they were not correlated with RBP4, suggesting that subclinical inflammation is not a confounder in this age group. These data differ from those of Balagopal et al,116 in which CRP is correlated with RBP4 in adolescents, a difference that may have been owing to differences in age and/or pubertal stage.…”

“…Although RBP4 is a negative acute-phase protein, 117 nearly all earlier studies did not assess the potential confounding of RBP4 by subclinical inflammation, a common finding in obesity. 117,118 In the Swiss study, 106 although indices of inflammation were increased in the obese children, they were not correlated with RBP4, suggesting that subclinical inflammation is not a confounder in this age group.…”

NOR‐2 (neuron‐derived orphan receptor), a brain zinc finger protein, is highly induced during liver regeneration

“…This model has also been used to analyse the expression of hepatic genes during different phases of the cell cycle. It has been shown that transferrin mRNA is detectable very late in the regenerating liver, and thus it belongs to the set of delayed genes of the cell cycle [5]. The transferrin gene is therefore probably regulated in part by immediate-early genes.…”