Validation and application of a liquid-chromatographic/enzymatic assay for individual bile acids in the serum of rats.
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A liquid-chromatographic technique with a post-column enzymatic reaction and fluorescence detection was validated for analysis of individual bile acids in the serum of rats. Extraction recoveries averaged 91.1% (SD 6.9%) for all bile acids. The assay was sensitive (minimum detection of 16.8 pmol per 100-microL injection), linear (r greater than 0.999 for concentrations ranging between 45 and 112,500 pmol per 100-microL injection), and reproducible (mean CVs for three different concentrations of standards and a serum pool ranged from 4.4% to 12.2%). In rats treated for three days with either neomycin, carbon tetrachloride, alpha-naphthylisothiocyanate, or total bile-duct ligation (five animals per group), total concentrations of bile acids were significantly increased (P less than 0.004). Concentrations of 16 of 17 individual bile acids differed significantly between groups (P less than 0.04). Examination of the relative concentrations (percent of total) of individual bile acids by canonical discriminant analysis placed each animal into the appropriate treatment or control group. Use of this technique in toxicological studies can help detect and identify specific types of disruptions in the enterohepatic circulation of bile acids. (+info)
Changes in polyamine metabolism in rat liver after oral administration of alpha-naphthylisothiocyanate.
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Changes in the levels of urea cycle enzymes and polyamine metabolism in the liver of rats treated with alpha-naphthylisothiocyanate (ANIT), an inducer of experimental cholestasis, were studied. Activities of arginase increased approximately two-fold compared to the control values during the period of 24-72 hours after oral administration of ANIT (100 mg/kg), while activities of ornithine carbamyltransferase and ornithine aminotransferase decreased. The activity of ornithine decarboxylase was elevated by approximately 20- and 10-fold at 12 and 60 hours, respectively, after ANIT administration. Putrescine concentration doubled 24-48 hours after the ANIT administration, but spermidine level rose more slowly and reached the level of 1.5-fold of the control level in 36-72 hours. Spermine concentration decreased initially but increased in 96 hours. These results suggest that the increased activity of urea cycle accounts for the increase in the ornithine content and that the putrescine and spermidine acts as the initiator of recovery of the liver damaged by ANIT treatment. (+info)
Transmigration of mitochondrial GOT in cholestatic liver injury.
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Cholestatic liver injury was experimentally induced in rats by administration of alpha-naphthylisothiocyanate (ANIT) and the peak activity of mitochondrial L-aspartate: 2-oxoglutarate aminotransferase (m-GOT) released in the serum was found to precede the peak of total GOT activity. To investigate the permeability of the mitochondrial inner membrane to m-GOT, liver mitochondria obtained from rats given ANIT were fractionated into two subfractions: one containing the matrix and the inner and outer membranes, and the other containing the intermembrane space, and the m-GOT in these fractions was determined. As a result, 12 hours after ANIT administration, the relative activity of GOT in the subfraction containing the matrix and the membranes was significantly lower than the control value. In the same period, the ratio of GOT activity to the activity of glutamate dehydrogenase, which is a marker enzyme for the matrix, and the ratio of GOT activity to the activity of cytochrome c oxidase, which is a marker enzyme for the inner membrane, were both decreased by half. In contrast, the relative GOT activity for the subfraction containing the intermembrane space was significantly increased 12 hours after administration. Also, the ratio of GOT activity to the activity of adenylate kinase, a marker enzyme for the intermembrane space, was doubled. These results suggest that m-GOT, which is originally located in the mitochondrial matrix, transmigrated to the intermembrane space via the inner membrane under the effect of ANIT administration. (+info)
1-Naphthylisothiocyanate-induced permeability of hepatic tight junctions to proteins.
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We have studied the early action of 1-naphthylisothiocyanate (ANIT) in relation to its effect on the permeability barrier formed by hepatic tight junctions. Materials having different Mr values [inulin (5000), horseradish peroxidase (HRP) (40,000), ovalbumin (also 40,000) and pig gamma-globulin (IgG) (160,000)] were individually pulsed, within 1 min, into perfused rat livers operating under single-pass conditions. In untreated rats, a small peak of HRP and ovalbumin and a comparatively larger peak of inulin were observed in the bile at 7 min. In rats treated with ANIT, with increasing duration of ANIT treatment the inulin peak increased proportionally, whereas the HRP and ovalbumin peaks remained unchanged until after 10 h of ANIT exposure; gamma-globulin was not detected in the 7 min bile sample until after 14 h of ANIT treatment. Bile flow in all rats remained approximately the same until after 14 h of ANIT pretreatment, when substantial bile-flow reduction was observed. Phenobarbitone pretreatment increased the effect of ANIT and massively elevated the first HRP peak; it also shortened the time (to 4 h) at which the increase in permeability to this protein was observed. In contrast, the first HRP peak was virtually abolished in rats that had received the mixed-function-oxidase inhibitor SKF 525A. These experiments suggest that (i) ANIT progressively increased the permeability of the junctional barrier before the reduction in bile flow, (ii) the ANIT-increased permeability change seems to be inversely dependent upon the Mr of the infused proteins, and (iii) metabolites of ANIT were involved in the development of the junctional permeability change. (+info)
Transcytosis and paracellular movements of horseradish peroxidase across liver parenchymal tissue from blood to bile. Effects of alpha-naphthylisothiocyanate and colchicine.
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The pathways for the entry of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) into bile have been investigated using the isolated perfused rat liver operating under one-pass conditions. Following a 1 min one-pass infusion of HRP, two peaks of HRP activity were noted in the bile. The first, at 5-7 min post-infusion, correlated with the biliary secretion of the [3H]methoxyinulin which was infused simultaneously with the HRP. The second peak of HRP activity occurred at 20-25 min, and correlated with the biliary secretion of 125I-IgA, which was also infused simultaneously with the HRP. If the isolated livers were perfused with a medium containing 2.5 microM-colchicine, the biliary secretion of IgA and the second secretion peak of HRP were inhibited by 60%. If rats were pretreated for 12h with alpha-naphthylisothiocyanate (25mg/100g body wt.) prior to liver isolation, the biliary secretion of [3H]methoxyinulin and the first secretion peak of HRP were increased. Taken together, these results suggest that HRP enters the bile via two routes. The faster route, which was increased by alpha-naphthylisothiocyanate and correlated with [3H]methoxyinulin entry into bile, was probably paracellular, involving diffusion across tight junctions. The slower route, which was inhibited by colchicine and correlated with the secretion of IgA, was probably due to transcytosis, possibly within IgA and other transport vesicles. (+info)
Effects of gomisin A on liver functions in hepatotoxic chemicals-treated rats.
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The effects of gomisin A, which is a lignan component of schizandra fruits, on liver functions in various experimental liver injuries and on bile secretion in CCl4-induced liver injury were studied. Gomisin A weakly accelerated the disappearance of plasma ICG by itself at a high dose (100 mg/kg, i.p.). All of the hepatotoxic chemicals used in this study inhibited the excretion of ICG from plasma. Gomisin A showed a tendency to prevent the delays of the disappearance of plasma ICG induced by CCl4, d-galactosamine and orotic acid, but not that by ANIT. Bile flow and biliary outputs of total bile acids and electrolytes (Na+, K+, Cl- and HCO3-) were decreased in CCl4-treated rats. Gomisin A maintained bile flow and biliary output of each electrolyte nearly to the level of the vehicle-treated group, but did not affect biliary output of total bile acids. These findings suggest that gomisin A possesses a liver function-facilitating property in normal and liver injured rats and that its preventive action on CCl4-induced cholestasis is due to maintaining the function of the bile acids-independent fraction. (+info)
Serum gamma glutamyl transferase as a specific indicator of bile duct lesions in the rat liver.
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Serum gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), a marker of hepatic injury used extensively in humans, has been used rarely in rats because its specificity has not been previously defined. Studies were designed for investigation of the specificity of serum GGT activity with the use of cell type specific hepatotoxicants in Fischer 344 rats. Single necrogenic doses of CCl4, allyl alcohol (AA), and alpha-naphthylisothiocyanate (ANIT) were used to produce cell specific injury in centrilobular hepatocytes, periportal hepatocytes, and bile duct cells, respectively. Administration of CCl4 markedly increased serum activities of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (AP), and serum bile acid concentrations within 24 hours but had no effect on serum GGT activity. ANIT treatment increased serum GGT and AP activities and bile acid concentration 24 hours following administration. Allyl alcohol administration increased serum ALT activity but had no effect on GGT activity. Administration of ANIT in the diet at 0.01%, 0.022%, 0.047%, and 0.1% for 2, 4, and 6 weeks produced dose- and time-dependent increases in serum GGT activity which strongly correlated with quantitative increases in hepatic bile duct volume, which was determined morphometrically. These observations support the use of serum GGT activity in the rat as diagnostic of bile duct cell necrosis when increases are detected shortly after the insult and as an indicator of possible bile duct hyperplasia. (+info)
gamma-Glutamyl transpeptidase and alpha-fetoprotein expression during alpha-naphthylisothiocyanate-induced hepatotoxicity in rats.
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Continuous feeding of alpha-naphthylisothiocyanate to young male Sprague-Dawley rats was shown to produce a concentration-dependent increase in the number of hepatic ductular cells and a concentration- and time-dependent elevation of serum and liver gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase and alpha-fetoprotein. In liver, the increased gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase and alpha-fetoprotein were predominantly confined to the proliferative ductular cell population. It is concluded that early stages of intoxication by the noncarcinogen alpha-naphthylisothiocyanate resemble early stages in induction of liver neoplasia by carcinogens that evoke ductular proliferation. Elevation of gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase and alpha-fetoprotein expression by an expanding ductular cell population characterizes both processes. However, the increase is rapidly reversed after alpha-naphthylisothiocyanate is discontinued, in contrast to the persistence that has been reported when acetylaminofluorene was administered. (+info)