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Role of Autophagy and Apoptosis in Aluminum Exposure-Induced Liver Injury in Rats

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Abstract

Aluminum (Al) exposure can lead to different degrees of damage to various organ systems of the body. It has been previously revealed that Al exposure can damage the liver, causing liver dysfunction. However, the specific mechanism remains unclear. This research aims to uncover the damaging effect of Al exposure on rat liver and to demonstrate the role of autophagy and apoptosis in this effect. Thirty-two Wistar rats were randomly divided into the control group (C group), low-dose Al exposure group (L group), middle-dose Al exposure group (M group), and high-dose Al exposure group (H group) (n = 8). The rats, respectively, received intraperitoneal injections of 0, 5, 10, and 20 mg/kg·day AlCl3 solution for 4 weeks (5 times/week). After the experiment, changes in the ultrastructure and autolysosome in rat liver were observed; the liver function, apoptosis rate, as well as levels of apoptosis-associated proteins and autophagy-associated proteins were detected. The results indicated that Al exposure damaged rat liver function and structure and resulted in an increase in autolysosomes. TUNEL staining revealed an elevated number of apoptotic hepatocytes after Al exposure. Moreover, we found from Western blotting that the levels of autophagy-associated proteins Beclin1 and LC3-II were increased; apoptotic protein Caspase-3 level was elevated and the Bcl-2/Bax ratio was reduced. Our research suggested that Al exposure can lead to high autophagy and apoptosis levels of rat hepatocytes, accompanied by hepatocyte injury and impaired liver function. This study shows that autophagy and apoptosis pathways participate in Al toxication-induced hepatocyte injury.

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The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author and the first author.

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Funding

This work was co-financed by the Guangxi Science Natural Foundation for Young Scientists (No. 2019GXNSFBA245045) and the Young and Middle-Aged Backbone Talents Scientific Research Projects of the Affiliated Hospital of Youjiang Medical University for Nationalities in 2021 (No. Y20212606).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The First Clinical Medical College of Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510000, China

    Xi Wei & Biaoliang Wu

  2. Department of Health Supervision Center, the Affiliated Hospital of YouJiang Medical University for Nationalities, Baise, 533000, China

    Xi Wei & Yueling Luo

  3. Department of Oncology, the Affiliated Hospital of YouJiang Medical University for Nationalities, Baise, 533000, China

    Dong Li

  4. Department of Endocrinology, the Affiliated Hospital of YouJiang Medical University for Nationalities, Zhongshan No 2 Road 18, Baise, 533000, China

    Biaoliang Wu

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  1. Xi Wei
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  2. Dong Li
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Contributions

All authors made contributions to the research design. Xi Wei and Dong Li established the animal model and analyzed the samples. Yueling Luo performed a statistical analysis of the data. Biaoliang Wu directed the design of the research. Xi Wei drafted the manuscript. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Biaoliang Wu.

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Wei, X., Li, D., Luo, Y. et al. Role of Autophagy and Apoptosis in Aluminum Exposure-Induced Liver Injury in Rats. Biol Trace Elem Res 201, 3971–3980 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-022-03497-9

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