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Murine Functional Liver Mass is Reduced Following Partial Small Bowel Resection

  • 2009 SSAT Quick Shot Presentation
  • Published:
Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery

Abstract

Introduction

Liver mass is regulated in precise proportion to body mass in health and is restored by regeneration following acute injury. Despite extensive experimental analyses, the mechanisms involved in this regulation have not been fully elucidated. Previous investigations suggest that signals from the bowel may play an important role. The purpose of the studies reported here was to determine the effect of proximal partial small bowel resection on liver mass in a murine model.

Methods

Mice were subjected to a 50% proximal small bowel resection or sham surgery followed by primary anastomosis, then sacrificed at serial times for determination of liver:body mass ratio and analyses of liver tissue.

Results

Liver:body weight ratio was significantly decreased 72 h after small bowel resection, and this decrease correlated with reduced functional liver mass as assessed by determination of total hepatic tissue protein and alanine transaminase (ALT) activity. Liver from bowel-resected animals demonstrated increased expression of LC3-II, a marker of autophagy, and also of pro-apoptotic Bax compared to anti-apoptotic Bcl-2.

Conclusion

These data support a role for signals from the intestine in liver mass regulation, and they have potential implications regarding the pathogenesis of liver injury following small bowel resection.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr. Dennis Dietzen for his assistance with transaminase activity determinations on mouse liver lysates.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Zhaohua Qiu & David A. Rudnick

  2. Department of Developmental Biology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA

    David A. Rudnick

  3. Department of Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Shannon W. Longshore & Brad W. Warner

  4. Department of Surgery, University of California, Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, CA, USA

    Shannon W. Longshore

  5. Department of Pediatrics, Developmental Biology Unit, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S Euclid Avenue, Box 8208, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA

    David A. Rudnick

Authors
  1. Zhaohua Qiu
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  2. Shannon W. Longshore
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  3. Brad W. Warner
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  4. David A. Rudnick
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to David A. Rudnick.

Additional information

Zhaohua Qiu and Shannon W. Longshore contributed equally to this work.

These studies were supported by grants from National Institutes of Health (RO1 DK52712 (DAR), DK53234 (BWW); T32-54294C (SWL)) and CDHNF/TAP (DAR), and by the Digestive Disease Research Core Center at Washington University School of Medicine (P30DK052574).

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Qiu, Z., Longshore, S.W., Warner, B.W. et al. Murine Functional Liver Mass is Reduced Following Partial Small Bowel Resection. J Gastrointest Surg 13, 2176–2182 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11605-009-1043-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11605-009-1043-z

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