• 2018-07
  • 2019-04
  • 2019-05
  • 2019-06
  • 2019-07
  • Hepatocyte proliferation is accompanied by changing gene exp


    Hepatocyte proliferation is accompanied by changing gene expression [1,2]. as two of the three estrogen receptors are transcription factors: Estrogen Receptor alpha (ERα) and ERβ [[3], [4], [5]]. The most potent ligand estradiol, binds to ERα/ERβ and exerts changing cognate gene transcription [5]. Our previous study showed that ERα expression is induced after PH [3,4]. Therefore, we hypothesize that estradiol-ERα signaling is indispensable for hepatocyte proliferation.
    Materials and methods
    Result In our previous study, we observed that estrogen induces hepatocyte proliferation and ovariectomy delayed hepatocyte proliferation after partial hepatectomy (PH, [2,3]). We hypothesized that estrogen triggers hepatocyte proliferation after PH. Therefore, we analyzed both plasma estradiol and hepatocyte proliferation after PH (Fig. 1a). The estradiol concentration was elevated at 2 h after PH, and then hepatocytes proliferation started at 26 h, suggesting estradiol triggered hepatocyte proliferation after PH. Estradiol was administered to mice without PH, and hepatocyte proliferation was analyzed using proliferation specific marker Ki67 immunohistochemistry [12]. Both liver-body-weight-ratio (filled circle) and Ki67-positive hepatocyte rate (open rectangle) were increased in an estradiol-dependent manner (Fig. 1b). Estradiol binds to its receptor ERα or ERβ as a ligand, and the estradiol exerts its genomic function (transcription) in the cell through ERα and ERβ [[3], [4], [5]]. Estradiol was injected to the control (CT), ERα and ERβ KO mice [5], and hepatocyte proliferation was analyzed with incorporated bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) and Ki67 immunohistochemistry (Fig. 1c and d). The results showed that ERα is the estrogen target protein for estradiol-induced hepatocyte proliferation. In our previous study, hepatocyte proliferation was observed in the Estrus p-Chlorophenylalanine [4], suggesting endogenous estradiol controls hepatocyte proliferation. It is well known that the highest estrogen levels are seen during pregnancy. Therefore, we analyzed the livers in the pregnant CD-1 WT mice (Fig. 2), which are well-known as prolific. The livers of pregnant mice were found to be bigger than the livers of non-pregnant mice (Fig. 2a). Body and liver weights increased approximately 60% and 70%, respectively, in pregnant mice (Fig. 2b). However, the weight of other organs, such as the kidney and heart, did not change during pregnancy (Fig. 2b). Further, the analysis of hepatocyte proliferation by proliferation marker Ki67 immunohistochemistry revealed maternal hepatocyte proliferation in late pregnancy, when plasma estradiol was increased (Fig. 2c). Maternal hepatocyte proliferation and plasma estradiol concentration are increased parallelly in the late pregnancy. Taken together, pregnancy induces estradiol, and estradiol triggers maternal hepatocyte proliferation. Our previous studies showed that PH and estradiol administration stimulate ERα expression in the periportal hepatocytes [3,4]. We analyzed estrogen receptors expression during pregnancy (Fig. 3), and ERα RNA expression is induced in the late pregnancy (Fig. 3a and b). Induced-ERα expressed hepatocytes located in the periportal area (Fig. 3c). Therefore, we analyzed ERα KO mice in the late pregnancy. Since the ERα KO mice (and ERβ KO mice) are sterile [5], with conditional somatic mutagenesis, we established hepatocyte-ERα KO mice [5,6], which are fertile and have normal estradiol productivity. In these mice, the estradiol elevated in the Proestrus cycle (Fig. 4a, and [13]). Although WT-hepatocytes proliferate during the Diestrus cycle (Fig. 4a and b, and [3,4]), ERα ablated hepatocytes proliferate a low level (Fig. 4a and b). To see the effect of estradiol-induced hepatocyte proliferation, estradiol was injected to the ERα hepatocyte KO mice. The estradiol-induced hepatocyte proliferation was hardly observed in these mice (Fig. 4c and d). Finally, pregnant ERα hepatocyte KO mice were analyzed (Fig. 4e–g). Plasma estradiol was elevated to late pregnancy in both animals (Fig. 4e). The maternal WT-hepatocytes proliferation also increased in the late pregnancy. However, no induced proliferation was observed in ERα ablated hepatocyte during pregnancy (Fig. 4f and g). These data indicated that hepatocyte-ERα is involved in estradiol-induced hepatocyte proliferation in the late pregnancy in Diestrus cycle.