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Tri-iodothyronine enhances liver regeneration after living donor liver transplantation in rats

  • Original article
  • Published:
Journal of Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Sciences

Abstract

Background

Tri-iodothyronine (T3) has been shown to be a hepatic mitogen. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of T3 on liver regeneration after 50% partial liver transplantation (pLT) in rats.

Methods

Immediately after pLT, a single dose of T3 (4 mg/kg body weight) was administered. Liver/body weight ratio (LBWR), hepatocyte proliferation (Ki-67), biochemical parameters, and changes in cell cycle related proteins were evaluated.

Results

T3 promoted liver regeneration as shown by an increased liver/body weight ratio and Ki-67 proliferation index after pLT. On the transcriptional level, T3-treated rats had an increased expression of cyclin D1 and cyclin A as demonstrated by real time RT-PCR and Western blot.

Conclusions

Exogenous administration of T3 significantly improved liver regeneration after pLT, and therefore it may represent a promising strategy to improve the clinical outcome after living donor liver transplantation in the future.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank Professor Da Yu for his valuable advice. Also we want to thank the technicians in our lab for their cooperation and help.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Combined Multi-organ Transplantation, Ministry of Public Health, First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310003, China

    Ahmed Taki-Eldin, Lin Zhou, Hai-Yang Xie, Kang-jie Chen, Wu-hua Zhou, Wu Zhang, Chun-Yang Xing, Zhe Yang, Kai Zhang & Shu-Sen Zheng

Authors
  1. Ahmed Taki-Eldin
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  2. Lin Zhou
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  3. Hai-Yang Xie
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  4. Kang-jie Chen
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  5. Wu-hua Zhou
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  6. Wu Zhang
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  7. Chun-Yang Xing
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  8. Zhe Yang
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  9. Kai Zhang
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  10. Shu-Sen Zheng
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shu-Sen Zheng.

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Taki-Eldin, A., Zhou, L., Xie, HY. et al. Tri-iodothyronine enhances liver regeneration after living donor liver transplantation in rats. J Hepatobiliary Pancreat Sci 18, 806–814 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00534-011-0397-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00534-011-0397-2

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