Aim: Cholestasis remains a partially characterized disease. Evidence has been gained that it is a systemic disease that begins in the liver but significantly impacts other organs and systems such as the kidney, heart, and intestine, among others. One of the primary damage mechanisms is the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which eventually leads to oxidative stress, impacting canalicular morphology and actin cytoskeleton changes that could worsen the problem. These characteristics are also observed in the kidney and intestine. The work focused on addressing the intestine effects of intrahepatic cholestasis induced by α-naphthyl isothiocyanate (ANIT) and the protective response of the hepatocyte growth factor (HGF).
Methods: The 10- to 12-week-old CD1 male mice were treated with ANIT and then treated or not with HGF; intestine damage was addressed by histology, immunohistochemistry (IHC) of specific markers, oxidative stress, and apoptosis.
Results: Results show changes in the intestine histology, particularly the colon and ileum, induced by the cholestasis. HGF treatment restored the histology presentation and reverted the oxidative damage, clearly indicating a healing response. This observation was supported by an increment in anti-inflammatory macrophages (CD163+) in the HGF treatment.
Conclusions: The data prove that HGF induces a protective and repairing response in the intestine under cholestatic challenges.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.