Prolonged angiotensin-(1-7) infusion inhibits hepatic fibrosis in rats with bile duct ligation / 南方医科大学学报

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the inhibitory effect of angiotensin-(1-7) on liver fibrosis induced by bile duct ligation in rats.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Eighteen Wistar rats were randomized into 3 groups and subject to sham operation, bile duct ligation (BDL), or BDL with angiotensin-(1-7) treatment. An osmotic minipump was implanted intraperitoneally for administration of saline in the sham-operated and BDL groups and angiotensin-(1-7) (25 µg·kg(-1)·h(-1)) in angiotensin-(1-7) treatment group. After a 4-week treatments, the fibrosis score, Masson staining, and hydroxyproline assay were used to evaluate the level of liver fibrosis in the rats, and immunohistochemistry was used to detect expression of α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) in the liver tissue.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with BDL group, a 4-week treatment with angiotensin-(1-7) following BDL significantly reduced the fibrosis score (2.33±0.52 vs 5.17±0.75), hydroxyproline content (0.36±0.03 vs 0.52±0.04) and α-SMA expression (54.11±17.55 vs 191.84±31.72) in the liver tissue of the rats (P<0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Prolonged infusion of angiotensin-(1-7) inhibit the formation of hepatic fibrosis in rats following bile duct ligation.</p>