Published online Jan 15, 2004. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v10.i2.279
Revised: October 5, 2003
Accepted: October 12, 2003
Published online: January 15, 2004
AIM: During liver regeneration cellular proliferation and apoptosis result in tissue remodeling to restore normal hepatic mass and structure. Main regulators of the apoptotic machinery are the Bcl-2 family proteins but their roles are not well defined throughout the liver regeneration. We aimed to analyze the expression levels of bcl-2 gene family members during resection induced liver regeneration.
METHODS: We performed semi-quantitative RT-PCR to examine the expression level of bak, bax, bcl-2 and bcl-xL in the 70% hepatectomized rat livers during the whole regeneration process and compared to that of the sham and normal groups.
RESULTS: The expression of bak and bax were decreased whereas bcl-2 and bcl-xL were increased in hepatectomized animals compared to normal liver at most time points. We also reported for the first time that sham group of animals had statistically significant higher expression of bak and bax compared to hepatectomized animals. In addition, the area under the curve (AUC) values of these genes were more in sham groups than the hepatectomized groups.
CONCLUSION: We conclude that the expressional changes of bak, bax, bcl-2 and bcl-xL genes were altered not only due to regeneration, but also due to the effects of surgical operations.