Ursodeoxycholic acid promotes liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy in bile duct obstructive rats / 中华肝脏病杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effect of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) on liver regeneration after 70% partial hepatectomy (PH) in bile duct obstructive (BDO) rats.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Wistar rats were randomly divided into N-PH group in which normal rats were operated with 70% PH, BDO-PH group in which 70% PH were operated after two week's BDO, and BDO-PH UDCA or sterile saline treatment group in which UDCA (15mg kg(-1) d(-1)) or saline was administrated during BDO and after 70% PH. The hepatic pathological changes were observed. BrdU labeling of hepatocytes, the mRNA expression of intrahepatic hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and its receptor (Met gene) after 70% PH were measured by immunohistochemical analysis and RT-PCR, respectively.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Improvements of hepatic function and pathological changes were induced by UDCA administration after BDO. The expression of hepatic HGF/Met mRNA after 70% PH in BDO-PH UDCA treatment group rats was significantly increased compared with N-PH group rats (P<0.05), BrdU peak labelling of hepatocytes (59.39% +/- 10.82%) in BDO-PH UDCA treatment group rats was significantly higher than that (36.22% +/- 8.37%) in BDO-PH group rats (t=4.149, P<0.01) and without significance compared with N-PH group rats (68.64% +/- 11.26%, t=1.451, P >0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>UDCA promotes liver regeneration after 70% PH in BDO rats by remission of hepatic pathological changes and elevating hepatic mRNA expression of HGF and Met.</p>