nitrophenols and gadolinium-chloride

The role of Kupffer cells in CCl(4)-induced fibrosis was investigated in vivo. Male Wistar rats were treated with phenobarbital and CCl(4) for 9 wk, and a group of rats were injected with the Kupffer cell toxicant gadolinium chloride (GdCl(3)) or were fed glycine, which inactivates Kupffer cells. After CCl(4) alone, the fibrosis score was 3.0 +/- 0.1 and collagen protein and mRNA expression were elevated, but GdCl(3) or glycine blunted these parameters. Glycine did not alter cytochrome P-450 2E1, making it unlikely that glycine affects CCl(4) metabolism. Treatment with GdCl(3) or glycine prevented CCl(4)-induced increases in transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta 1 protein levels and expression. CCl(4) treatment increased alpha-smooth muscle actin staining (score 3.0 +/- 0.2), whereas treatment with GdCl(3) and glycine during CCl(4) exposure blocked this effect (1.2 +/- 0.5); there was no staining with glycine treatment. These results support previous in vitro data and demonstrate that treatment of rats with the selective Kupffer cell toxicant GdCl(3) prevents stellate cell activation and the development of fibrosis.

Topics: Actins; Animals; Anti-Inflammatory Agents; Carbon Tetrachloride; Collagen; Endotoxins; Gadolinium; Gene Expression; Glycine; Kupffer Cells; Liver; Liver Cirrhosis; Male; Nitrophenols; Rats; Rats, Wistar; RNA, Messenger; Transforming Growth Factor beta

Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) is a classical pericentral hepatotoxicant; however, precise details of its mechanism of action remain unknown. One possibility is that Kupffer cells participant in this mechanism since CCl4 elevates calcium, and the release of toxic eicosanoids and cytokines by Kupffer cells is calcium-dependent. Therefore, these studies were designed to evaluate the role of Kupffer cells in CCl4 toxicity in the rat in vivo. Kupffer cells were destroyed selectively with gadolinium chloride treatment (10 mg/kg GdCl3 iv) 1 day prior to administration of CCl4 (4 g/kg ig). Twenty-four hours after CCl4 treatment, rats were anesthetized, blood samples were drawn for aspartate aminotransferase (AST) determination, which is indicative of parenchymal cell damage, and trypan blue was infused into the liver to stain the nuclei of dead hepatocytes. AST levels were in the normal range and trypan blue staining was negligible in livers from vehicle- or GdCl3-treated rats. As expected, CCl4 treatment alone elevated AST levels to values over 4000 U/liter and caused massive cell death (60-90 trypan blue-positive cells/pericentral field). In dramatic contrast, the elevation in AST and cell death due to CCl4 were almost completely prevented by GdCl3 treatment. In attempts to understand this phenomenon, metabolic and detoxification pathways were assessed. CCl4 is metabolized via cytochrome P450 II.E.1; however, GdCl3 treatment did not alter this pathway as assessed from p-nitrocatechol formation from the selective substrate, p-nitrophenol. GdCl3 treatment also had no effect on hepatic glutathione levels. On the other hand, GdCl3 treatment significantly reduced infiltration of neutrophils resulting from exposure to CCl4. These data clearly support the hypothesis that Kupffer cells participate in the mechanism of toxicity of CCl4 in vivo, possibly by release of chemoattractants for neutrophils.

Topics: Animals; Aspartate Aminotransferases; Carbon Tetrachloride; Catechols; Cell Death; Female; Gadolinium; Kupffer Cells; Liver; Nitrophenols; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Receptors, Leukocyte-Adhesion

The success rate of liver transplantation has improved markedly during the last few years and, although this patient population receives multiple drug therapies, the effect of liver transplantation on drug metabolism has been studied very little. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the metabolism of model drug substrates after liver transplantation in the rat. Rat livers were stored for 4 hr in cold Euro-Collins solution, transplanted orthotopically, and then perfused 2 hr later with oxygenated Krebs-Henseleit buffer, using a nonrecirculating system. Rates of monooxygenation of the model compound p-nitroanisole, conjugation of p-nitrophenol, and uptake of oxygen were measured. All parameters studied were elevated significantly, by nearly 2-fold, by transplantation. Specifically, monooxygenation was increased from 2.9 +/- 0.2 to 5.1 +/- 0.4 mumol/g/hr, conjugation was elevated from 3.3 +/- 0.6 to 7.7 +/- 0.1 mumol/g/hr, and O2 uptake was stimulated from basal values of 114 to 197 mumol/g/hr. Transplantation did not, however, alter rates of monooxygenation and conjugation in isolated microsomes supplemented with excess cofactor. When donor rats were pretreated with the Kupffer cell toxicant gadolinium chloride (10 mg/kg, intravenously) 30 hr before liver storage, the elevation after transplantation in all parameters studied was prevented. Depletion of carbohydrate reserves by fasting of donor rats did not prevent stimulation of monooxygenation and conjugation. On the other hand, urea synthesis from ammonium chloride, a process dependent on mitochondrial NADPH, was increased and monooxygenation was diminished after transplantation, suggesting the involvement of mitochondria in this phenomenon. Indeed, mitochondria isolated 2 hr postoperatively exhibited significantly elevated respiratory control ratios and higher state 3 rates of respiration. Taken together, these data support the hypothesis that Kupffer cells, activated by transplantation, release mediators that stimulate mitochondria in parenchymal cells and enhance drug metabolism by increasing cofactor supply (e.g., NADPH for monooxygenation and UDP-glucuronic acid for glucuronidation).

Topics: Ammonium Chloride; Animals; Anisoles; Carbohydrate Metabolism; Female; Gadolinium; Kupffer Cells; Liver; Liver Transplantation; Mitochondria, Liver; Nitrophenols; Oxidation-Reduction; Oxygen; Oxygen Consumption; Perfusion; Rats; Rats, Inbred Strains; Time Factors