Effects of microencapsulated hepatocyte transplantation on the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor in rat with acute liver failure / 中华传染病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)in hepatic tissue of acute liver failure(ALF)rats after transplantation of microencapsulated hepatocytes.Methods The ALF model of rats was induced by D-galactosamine(D-Gal)1400 mg/kg.Then the ALF rats were divided into three groups 18 h after injection of D-GalALF model group,free hepatocyte transplantation group,and microencapsulated hepatocyte transplantation group,50 rats in each group,respectively.Each group was divided into 7 subgroups,and the rats were sacrificed at 24,36,48,72,120,168 and 240 h respectively after injection of D-Gal.The expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen(PCNA) and VEGF in liver tissue of ALF rats was detected by immunohistochemistry method.VEGF mRNA in liver tissue was detected by semi-quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR).Comparison among groups was done by one way ANOVA.Results Compared with ALF model group,the expression of PCNA protein and in free hepatocyet transplantation group in microencapsulated hepatocyte transplantation group began to increase obviously at 36 h after injection of D-Gal(F=26.26,P<0.05).Compare to that of ALF model and free hepatocyte transplantation group,the expression of VEGF protein in microencapsulated hepatocyte transplantation group increased significantly at 36 h after injection of D-Gal(F=25.44,P<0.05),which decreased slower and was still higher at 240 h after injection of D-Gal(F=220.25,P<0.05).Compared with ALF model group,the expression of VEGF mRNA in free hepatocyte transplantation group increased obviously at 24 h(48.0±1.9 vs 56.7±9.1;F=3.54,P<0.05).And that in microencapsulated hepatocyte transplantation group was higher than free hepatocyte transplantation group at 48 h(100.7±1.9 vs 94.5±1.4;F=47.82,P<0.05),which was still significantly higher than free hepatocyte transplantation group at 240 h after injection of D-Gal(F=21.70,P<0.05). Conclusion Transplantation of microencapsulated hepatocytes could upregulate the expression of VEGF in liver tissues and promote the regeneration of hepatocytes in ALF rats.