Abstract
Hydrophobic bile acids are implicated in the pathogenesis of cholestatic liver disorders through mechanisms involving oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction. Antioxidants ameliorate bile acid–induced cytotoxicity in rat hepatocyte suspensions. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the potential protective role of β-carotene (βC), a putative fat-soluble antioxidant that is reduced in patients with cholestasis, against bile acid–induced hepatotoxicity. In freshly isolated rat hepatocyte suspensions that were exposed to the toxic hydrophobic bile acid glycochenodeoxycholic acid (100 or 500 μM), βC (100 μM) decreased generation of reactive oxygen species by >50%, similar to the inhibition afforded by β-tocopherol. Commensurate with this antioxidant effect, 100 μM βC also protected hepatocytes against both glycochenodeoxycholic acid–induced cellular necrosis and apoptosis, which was associated with reduction in caspase 3 activation, inhibition of mitochondrial cytochrome c release in rat hepatocytes, and prevention of the mitochondrial permeability transition in both liver mitochondria and rat hepatocytes. A lower concentration of βC (50 μM) produced similar antioxidant and anti-apoptotic protection but with less inhibition against cell necrosis, suggesting that the higher concentration of βC may have conferred additional cytoprotection not directly related to its antioxidant function. These results demonstrate that the antioxidant effects of βC may provide hepatoprotection against cholestatic liver injury by preventing bile acid–induced oxidative stress and mitochondrial perturbations.
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Abbreviations
- α-TH:
-
α-tocopherol
- βC:
-
β-carotene
- CLD:
-
cholestatic liver disorders
- DCF-DA:
-
dichlorofluorescin diacetate
- DCFein:
-
2′7′-dichlorofluorescein
- GCDC:
-
glycochenodeoxycholic acid
- KRH:
-
Krebs Ringers HEPES
- MPT:
-
mitochondrial permeability transition
- PI:
-
propidium iodide
- ROS:
-
reactive oxygen species
- Δψ:
-
mitochondrial electrochemical gradient
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Acknowledgements
Presented in part at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, Dallas, TX, November 2001 [Hepatology 2001;34:277A(abstr)].
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Supported in part by grants from the National Institutes of Health (RO1 DK-38446) and the Abby Bennett Liver Research Fund.
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Gumpricht, E., Dahl, R., Devereaux, M. et al. β-Carotene Prevents Bile Acid-Induced Cytotoxicity in the Rat Hepatocyte: Evidence for an Antioxidant and Anti-Apoptotic Role of β-Carotene In Vitro. Pediatr Res 55, 814–821 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1203/01.PDR.0000117845.23762.6B
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/01.PDR.0000117845.23762.6B
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