Intestinal mucosal proliferation, apoptosis and oxidative stress in patients with liver cirrhosis
Journal Title: Annals of Hepatology - Year 2013, Vol 12, Issue 2
Abstract
[b]Background[/b]. Intestinal mucosal barrier dysfunction in liver cirrhosis and its implicated mechanisms is of great clinical importance because it is associated with the development of serious complications from diverse organs through promotion of systemic endotoxemia. [b]Aim[/b]. The present study was designed to investigate whether enterocytes’ proliferation, apoptosis and intestinal oxidative stress are altered in the intestinal mucosa of patients with compensated and decompensated liver cirrhosis. [b]Material and methods[/b]. Twelve healthy controls (group A) and twenty four cirrhotic patients at a compensated (n = 12, group B) or decompensated condition (n = 12, group C) were subjected to duodenal biopsy. In intestinal specimens mucosal apoptotic and mitotic activity and their ratio were recorded by means of morphological assessment and mucosal lipid hydroperoxides were measured. Plasma endotoxin concentration, an index of gut barrier function, was also determined. [b]Results[/b]. Cirrhotic patients presented significantly higher serum endotoxin concentrations as compared to healthy controls (P < 0.001), whilst endotoxemia was higher in decompensated disease (P < 0.05 vs. compensated cirrhosis). Intestinal mucosal mitotic count was significantly lower in patients with compensated and decompensated cirrhosis compared to controls (P < 0.01, respectively), whilst a trend towards increased apoptosis was recorded. The mitotic/apoptotic ratio was significantly reduced in groups B (P < 0.05) and C (P < 0.01) as compared to controls. Intestinal lipid peroxidation was significantly increased in decompensated cirrhotics (P < 0.001 vs. groups A and B). [b]Conclusions[/b]. The present study demonstrates for the first time that human liver cirrhosis is associated with decreased intestinal mucosal proliferation and proliferation/apoptosis ratio even at early stages of cirrhosis and increased intestinal oxidative stress in advanced liver disease.
Authors and Affiliations
Stelios Stelios, Athanassios Tsamandas, Georgios Tsiaoussis, Elli Karatza, Dimitrios Zisimopoulos, Ioannis Maroulis, Eleni Kontogeorgou, Christos Georgiou, Chrisoula Scopa, Konstantinos Thomopoulos
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP78264
- DOI -
- Views 130
- Downloads 0
Successful orthotopic liver transplantation and delayed delivery of a healthy newborn in a woman with fulminant hepatic failure during the second trimester of pregnancy
Severe liver dysfunction during pregnancy implies a serious risk for both mother and fetus, and represents a technical and ethical challenge for treating physicians. We report a case of a previously healthy 32-year old w...
The Presence and Severity of Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis Is Associated with Specific Changes in Circulating Bile Acids
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common cause of chronic liver disease nowadays with currently no approved therapies for the disease. The liver plays a pivotal role in lipid and glucose metabolism. T...
Cytokeratin19 positive hepatocellular carcinoma is associated with increased peritumoral ductular reaction
Background and aims. Cytokeratin19 positive (CK19+) hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is thought to derive from liver progenitor cells (LPC). However, whether peritumoralductular reaction (DR) differs between CK19+ and CK1...
Prevalence of hepatitis A, B and C serological markers in children from western Mexico
Introduction. Viral hepatitis in children is a major public health problem worldwide. Aim. To evaluate the prevalence of serological markers for hepatitis A, B and C infections in Mexican children diagnosed with hepatiti...
Updating the knowledge of hepatitis E: new variants and higher prevalence of anti-HEV in Argentina
Introduction. Hepatitis E is a disease of global distribution, with significant morbidity and mortality, whose scope and burden continue to emerge in low endemic countries. Material and methods. In 2012, we studied the p...