Pretreatment of liver grafts in vivo by γ-aminobutyric acid receptor regulation reduces cold ischemia/warm reperfusion injury in rat

Tomohide Hori, Lindsay B. Gardner, Toshiyuki Hata, Feng Chen, Ann Marie T. Baine, Shinji Uemoto, Justin H. Nguyen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is found throughout the body. The regulation of GABA receptor (GABAR) reduces oxidative stress (OS). Ischemia/reperfusion injury after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) causes OS-induced graft damage. The effects of GABAR regulation in donors in vivo were investigated. Material/Methods: Donor rats received saline, a GABAR agonist or GABAR antagonist 4 h before surgery. Recipient rats were divided into four groups according to the donor treatments: laparotomy, OLT with saline, OLT with GABAR agonist and OLT with GABAR antagonist. Histopathological, biochemical and immunohistological examinations were performed at 6, 12 and 24 h after OLT. Protein assays were performed at 6 h after OLT. The 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE), ataxia-telangiectasia mutated kinase (ATM), phosphorylated histone H2AX (γH2AX), phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI3K), Akt and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were assessed by western blot analysis. Results: In the univariate analysis, histopathological and biochemical profiles verified that the GABAR agonist reduced graft damage. Immunohistology revealed that the GABAR agonist prevented the induction of apoptosis. Measurement of 4-4-HNE levels confirmed OS-induced damage after OLT, and the GABAR agonist improved this damage. In the γH2AX, PI3K, Akt and antioxidant enzymes (SODs), ATM and H2AX were greatly increased after OLT, and were reduced by the GABAR agonist. In the multivariate analyses between multiple groups, histopathological assessment, aspartate aminotransferase level, immunohistological examinations for apoptotic induction and γH2AX showed statistical differences. Conclusions: A specific agonist demonstrated regulation of GABAR in vivo in the liver. This activation in vivo reduced OS after OLT via the ATM/H2AX pathway.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)299-313
Number of pages15
JournalAnnals of Transplantation
Volume18
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2013

Keywords

  • Cold ischemia
  • Free radicals
  • Oxidative stress
  • Reperfusion injury
  • Warm reperfusion

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Transplantation

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Pretreatment of liver grafts in vivo by γ-aminobutyric acid receptor regulation reduces cold ischemia/warm reperfusion injury in rat'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this