Figure 4 | Laboratory Investigation

Figure 4

From: Steatosis does not impair liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy

Figure 4

Cell death and apoptosis-related gene expression in steatotic murine liver tissue after 70% hepatectomy. Partial hepatectomy (PHx) led to increased death receptor (DR) expression (a, b) in liver tissue of standard diet (SD)- and western diet (WD)-fed mice on postoperative days (PHx+) 1, 2 and 7, which was more prominent in WD animals. A similar effect of PHx was present for Noxa expression (pro-apoptotic, c). mRNA expression of the anti-apoptotic molecules Bcl-2 (d) and Bcl-xl (e) were elevated on PHx+1 and 2 in both groups, whereas Mcl-1 expression (f) was only raised on PHx+1. Determination of Bcl-2/Bax ratio showed a surplus of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 expression (g). Data of mRNA expression are depicted as mean±s.e.m. of the relative expression vs SD-fed animals (fold change), *P<0.05 vs SD pre-OP (a–g). Cell death was quantified by TUNEL staining, though no differences between SD and WD feeding were observable. Shown are TUNEL-positive cells per visual field as mean±s.e.m. ***P<0.001 vs SD pre-OP (Figure 3h).

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