Lipotoxicity and steatohepatitis in an overfed mouse model for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

UNLABELLED: The major risk factors for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are obesity, insulin resistance and dyslipidemia. The cause for progression from the steatosis stage to the inflammatory condition (non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)) remains elusive at present. Aim of this study was to test whether the different stages of NAFLD as well as the associated metabolic abnormalities can be recreated in time in an overfed mouse model and study the mechanisms underlying the transition from steatosis to NASH. Male C57Bl/6J mice were subjected to continuous intragastric overfeeding with a high-fat liquid diet (HFLD) for different time periods. Mice fed a solid high-fat diet (HFD) ad libitum served as controls. Liver histology and metabolic characteristics of liver, white adipose tisue (WAT) and plasma were studied. Both HFD-fed and HFLD-overfed mice initially developed liver steatosis, but only the latter progressed in time to NASH. NASH coincided with obesity, hyperinsulinemia, loss of liver glycogen and hepatic endoplasmatic reticulum stress. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (Pparγ), fibroblast growth factor 21 (Fgf21), fatty acid binding protein (Fabp) and fatty acid translocase (CD36) were induced exclusively in the livers of the HFLD-overfed mice. Inflammation, reduced adiponectin expression and altered expression of genes that influence adipogenic capacity were only observed in WAT of HFLD-overfed mice. IN CONCLUSION: this dietary mouse model displays the different stages and the metabolic settings often found in human NAFLD. Lipotoxicity due to compromised adipose tissue function is likely associated with the progression to NASH, but whether this is cause or consequence remains to be established.

cyclicAMP and glucocorticoid responsiveness of the rat carbamoylphosphate synthetase gene requires the interplay of upstream regulatory units.

Many genes involved in metabolic processes are regulated by glucocorticoids and/or cyclicAMP. The hepatic expression of the urea cycle enzyme carbamoylphosphate-synthetase-I gene (CPS) is regulated at the transcriptional level by both factors. Here, we report that the 5' half of the distal enhancer is necessary and sufficient for full cyclicAMP responsiveness. The cyclicAMP-responsive element (CRE), and FoxA- and C/EBP-binding sites are indispensible for cyclicAMP responsiveness, indicating that these elements make up a cyclicAMP-responsive unit (CRU). In addition to this CRU, the CPS regulatory regions contain two glucocorticoid-response elements (GRE): one in the 3' region of the distal enhancer and one in the proximal enhancer. In presence of the cyclicAMP-responsive region in the distal enhancer, only one of the GREs is required for glucocorticoid-inducible CPS expression, with both GREs acting in an additive fashion to fully confer the inducing effect of glucocorticoids. In contrast, the simultaneous presence of both GREs is required in the absence of the cyclicAMP-responsive region. In this configuration, the distal GRE fully depends on its neighbouring FoxA and C/EBP REs for activity and is, therefore, a glucocorticoid-responsive unit. In conclusion, we show here that the CPS CRU is a bifunctional unit that elicits the cyclicAMP response and, in addition, functions as a glucocorticoid accessory unit to establish a glucocorticoid response from otherwise silent proximal or distal GRUs. Therefore, cyclicAMP and glucocorticoid pathways can induce CPS transcription via overlapping sets of response elements.

The RL-ET-14 cell line mediates expression of glutamine synthetase through the upstream enhancer/promoter region.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The expression of glutamine synthetase (GS) in the mammalian liver is confined to the hepatocytes surrounding the central vein and can be induced in cultures of periportal hepatocytes by co-cultivation with the rat-liver epithelial cell line RL-ET-14. We exploited these observations to identify the regulatory regions of the GS gene and the responsible signal-transduction pathway that mediates this effect. METHODS: Fetal hepatocytes of wild-type or GS-transgenic mice were co-cultured with RL-ET-14 cells to induce GS expression. Small-interfering RNA was employed to silence beta-catenin expression in the fetal hepatocytes prior to co-culture. RESULTS: Co-cultivation of RL-ET-14 cells with fetal mouse hepatocytes induced GS expression 4.2-fold. The expression of another pericentral enzyme, ornithine aminotransferase and a periportal enzyme, carbamoylphosphate synthetase, were not affected. Co-culture of RL-ET-14 cells with transgenic fetal mouse hepatocytes demonstrated that GS expression was induced via its upstream enhancer located at -2.5 kb and that the signal mediator required a functional beta-catenin pathway. CONCLUSIONS: The 'RL-ET-14' factor specifically induces GS expression, working via its upstream enhancer in a beta-catenin-dependent fashion.