Catapol attenuates the aseptic inflammatory response to hepatic I/R injury in vivo and in vitro by inhibiting the HMGB1/TLR-4/NF-κB signaling pathway via the microRNA-410-3p.

BACKGROUND: Hepatic ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury involves inflammatory necrosis of liver cells as a significant pathological mechanism. Catapol possesses anti-inflammatory activity that is extracted from the traditional Chinese medicine, Rehmannia glutinosa. METHODS: The liver function and histopathology, Oxidative stress, and aseptic inflammatory responses were assessed in vivo, and the strongest dose group was selected. For mechanism, the expression of miR-410-3p, HMGB1, and TLR-4/NF-κB signaling pathways was detected. The dual luciferase assay can verify the targeting relationship between miR-410-3p and HMGB1. Knockdown of miR-410-3p in L02 cells is applied in interference experiments. RESULTS: CAT pre-treatment significantly decreased the liver function markers alanine and aspartate aminotransferases and reduced the areas of hemorrhage and necrosis induced by hepatic I/R injury. Additionally, it reduced the aseptic inflammatory response and oxidative stress, with the strongest protective effect observed in the high-dose CAT group. Mechanistically, CAT downregulates HMGB1, inhibits TLR-4/NF-κB signaling pathway activation, and reduces inflammatory cytokines TNF-α, and IL-1ß. In addition, the I/R-induced downregulation of microRNA-410-3p was inhibited by CAT pre-treatment in vivo and in vitro. HMGB1 was identified as a potential target of microRNA-410-3p using a dual-luciferase reporter assay. Knockdown of microRNA-410-3p abolished the inhibitory effect of CAT on HMGB1, p-NF-κB, and p-IκB-α protein expression. CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed that CAT pre-treatment has a protective effect against hepatic I/R injury in rats. Specifically, CAT attenuates the aseptic inflammatory response to hepatic I/R injury in vivo and in vitro by inhibiting the HMGB1/TLR-4/NF-κB signaling pathway via the microRNA-410-3p.

Mitochondrial quality control in hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury.

Hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury is a phenomenon in which exacerbating damage of liver cells due to restoration of blood flow following ischemia during liver surgery, especially those involving liver transplantation. Mitochondria, the energy-producing organelles, are crucial for cell survival and apoptosis and have evolved a range of quality control mechanisms to maintain homeostasis in the mitochondrial network in response to various stress conditions. Hepatic ischemia-reperfusion leads to disruption of mitochondrial quality control mechanisms, as evidenced by reduced mitochondrial autophagy, excessive division, reduced fusion, and inhibition of biogenesis. This leads to dysfunction of the mitochondrial network. The accumulation of damaged mitochondria ultimately results in apoptosis of hepatocytes due to the release of apoptotic proteins like cytochrome C. This worsens hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury. Currently, hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury protection is being studied using different approaches such as drug pretreatment, stem cells and exosomes, genetic interventions, and mechanical reperfusion, all aimed at targeting mitochondrial quality control mechanisms. This paper aims to provide direction for future research on combating HIRI by reviewing the latest studies that focus on targeting mitochondrial quality control mechanisms.

The molecular mechanism of apoptosis of human umbilical vein endothelial cells induced by monocyte chemotacitic protein-1.

The present study was aimed to investigate whether Bcl-2, Fas and Bax are involved in monocyte chemotacitic protein-1 (MCP-1)-induced apoptosis of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (hUVECs). hUVECs were cultured, and the purity was identified by immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry with specific anti-von Willebrand factor (vWF) and anti-VEGF receptor-2 (KDR) antibodies. With 90% confluence hUVECs were serum-starved for 12 h, and then treated with different concentrations of MCP-1 (0.1, 1.0, 10, 100 ng/mL) for 24 and 48 h respectively. The expressions of apoptosis related proteins Fas, Bcl-2, Bax were detected by flow cytometry (FACS) and Western blot. As shown in our preliminary study, MCP-1 induced apoptosis of hUVECs in a dose-dependent manner at both 24 h and 48 h. FACS and Western blot analysis results in the present study indicated that MCP-1 promoted the expression of proapoptotic proteins Bax and Fas and inhibited the expression of antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2. These results suggest that MCP-1 may induce the apoptosis of hUVECs through evoking the imbalance between proapoptotic Fas/Bax and antiapoptotic Bcl-2 protein.