Journal of Practical Hepatology ›› 2021, Vol. 24 ›› Issue (2): 172-175.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1672-5069.2021.02.006

• Hepatitis in rats and mice • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Somatostatin alleviates liver injury in mice with liver fibrosis by inhibiting endoplasmic reticulum stress

Du Qingguo, Lu Jianwen, Wang Jianhua, et al   

  1. Second Department of General Surgery, Provincial People's Hospital, Xi’an 710068, Shaanxi Province, China
  • Received:2020-07-22 Online:2021-03-10 Published:2021-04-30

Abstract: Objective The aim of this study was to observe the effects of somatostatin (SST) on the inflammatory response and apoptosis in mice with CCl4-induced liver fibrosis (LF) , and to investigate whether SST can reduce liver injury and alleviate the process of LF by inhibiting the ERS.Methods Forty WT mice were randomly divided into control, model, low-dose SST-intervened and large-dose SST-intervened group, with 10 in each. Except the mice in control, the mice in other groups were injected with 25% CCl4 and oil mixture intraperitoneally to establish the model of liver injury and the mice in SST-intervened groups were given large or low doses of SST subcutaneously, respectively. Serum ALT and AST were detected, the liver tissues were obtained for pathological examination, and the protein expression of Bcl-2, Bax, Casp-9, BiP and CHOP in liver tissues were detected by Western blot.Results The histological activity index (HAI) score in model group was (12.2±2.7), significantly higher than [(1.8±0.8), P<0.01] in the control, and the hepatic fibrosis score was (5.4±0.5), significantly higher than [(0.1±0.3),P<0.01] in control; serum AST and ALT in the model were (194.7±35.2)U/L and (121.8±26.6)U/L], both significantly higher than [(53.8±21.7)U/L and (35.3±12.9)U/L, respectively,P<0.01] in the control; the HAI scores in low-dose and large-dose SST-intervened groups were (7.7±2.1) and (6.9±2.0), and the hepatic fibrosis scores were (4.3±1.0) and (3.9±0.9), significantly decreased compared to those in the model (P<0.05); the expression of Bax, Casp-9, BiP and CHOP in hepatic tissues in the model intensified greatly compared to in the control ([P<0.01), while the hepatic expression of Bax, Casp-9, BiP and CHOP in SST-intervened groups weaken obviously compared to in the model (F=26.36, F=14.81, F=25.11 and F=30.31,P<0.05).Conclusion SST could alleviate liver inflammation and LF, the mechanism by which might be related to the inhibition of ERS.

Key words: Liver fibrosis, Somatostatin, Endoplasmic reticulum stress, Histological activity index, Mice