Changes and signiifcance of hepatic HSP60 in acute liver injury in rats

CAODong; ZHUMeiyi; WUJiangwen; ZHOUTao; OUYANGJun

doi:10.13919/j.issn.2095-6274.2017.02.004

Abstract：Objective This study was designed to observe the changes of heat shock protein 60 (HSP60) in the development of acute hepatic injury and analyze the relationship between HSP60 and acute hepatic injury in rats. Methods 126 SD rats were randomly allocated into three groups: blank control group, non-liver injury group and liver injury group. Rats in the control group received no injury, rats in the non-liver injury group received a left leg fracture and rats in the liver injury group received an acute hepatic injury induced by a modified biological impact machine-IV(BIM-Ⅳ). Blood samples from the three groups were collected at 6 hours, 12 hours, 1 day, 2 days, 3 days, 5 days and 7 days to determine the alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST) levels. The samples were cut and the livers of rats were disected soon after, and pathomorphological changes of liver tissue samples were examined under a microscope by means of hematoxylin-eosin (HE) stainning. Immunohistochemical staining was also used to detect the changes of HSP60 during acute liver injury in rats. Results (1) The levels of ALT and AST in non-hepatic injury group did not significantly change compared to the control group at each time point as mentioned above(P>0.05). Compared with the blank group and non-liver injury group, the serum ALT and AST levels in liver injury group were significantly higher at 6 hours, 12 hours, 1 day, 2 days, 3 days, 5 days and 7 days respectively (P<0.05 ), and they increased significantly at the 6 hour mark [(104.17±4.07) U/L, (271.00±15.84) U/L] and peaked at 12 hours [(424.50±10.84) U/L, (787.70±32.68) U/L], then went down and returned normal levels on the 3rd day. (2) HE staining showed inflammatory cell infiltration and cell degeneration in hepatic injury group, the damage was most marked at 12 hours. (3) The immunohistochemical staining showed the levels of HSP60 in the hepatic injury group was significantly increased compared to the control group at both the 6 and 12 hour mark and reached the its highest level at 12 hours. The expression of HSP60 went down on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd day, but was still higher than the control group until the 5th day, when it returned to the basal level. (4) There was significant correlation between the level of HSP60 and ALT (r=0.9064, P<0.05) and AST (r=0.9294, P<0.05). Conclusions The expression of HSP60 significantly changes during acute liver injury, which is consistent with the change of degree of liver injury in rats.