Abstract: Objective To explore the protective effect of liver injuries by lentivirus-transfected miR-203 overexpression in rats with alcohol-induced liver disease (ALD). Methods 60 male SD rats were randomly divided into ALD (group A), NC-miRNA plus ALD (group B) and miR-203 plus ALD (group C). Lenti-NC or Lenti-miR-203 were administered to rats by tail vein injection using a 30 gauge ultra-fine insulin syringe before ALD model establishment. Real-time PCR was used to detect miR-203 levelss in liver tissues, and HE staining was used to evaluate the injury of liver tissues. The changes of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and malonaldehyde (MDA) in liver tissue homogenates in each group were detected by ELISA and hepatic IL-1β and NF-κB protein expression were detected by Western Blot. Results At the end of eight week model establishment, the miR-203 level in group C rat liver tissue was (2.8±0.1), significantly higher than 【(1.3±0.5), P＜0.05】 in group B; serum AST, ALT and bilirubin levels in group C were (89.5±7.9)U/L, (38.5±10.1)U/L and (27.8±5.1)μmol/L, significantly lower than 【(162.8±16.5)U/L, (69.6±7.5)U/L and (54.9±7.8)μmol/L, P＜0.05】, respectively,in group B; hepatic homogenate SOD and CAT in group C were (57.6±11.4)U/mg and(54.6±9.9)U/mg, significantly higher than [(41.6±7.6)U/mg and (45.7±6.0)U/mg, P＜0.05】, respectively, in group B, while hepatic homogenate MDA level was (2.8±0.1)nmol/g, much lower than 【(5.0±0.2)nmol/g, P＜0.05】 in group B; the results by Western bloting showed thant hepatic IL-1β and NF-κB expression in group C were (0.7±0.2) and (0.3±0.1), significantly lower than 【(1.2±0.3) and (1.0±0.2), respectively, P＜0.05】 in group B. Conclusion Our findings suggest that the overexpression of miR-203 has a protective effect on liver injury in ALD rats, which might be attributed to the intensified antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.

Key words: Alcohol liver diseases, miR-203, Oxidant stress, Rats