| First Author | Mizuhara H | Year | 1998 |
| Journal | Hepatology | Volume | 27 |
| Issue | 2 | Pages | 513-9 |
| PubMed ID | 9462651 | Mgi Jnum | J:46027 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:1196849 | Doi | 10.1002/hep.510270227 |
| Citation | Mizuhara H, et al. (1998) Strain difference in the induction of T-cell activation-associated, interferon gamma-dependent hepatic injury in mice. Hepatology 27(2):513-9 |
| abstractText | A single intravenous injection of concanavalin A (Con A) induces T-cell activation-associated inflammatory injury selectively in the liver. This study investigated the strain difference in the development of Con A-induced hepatic injury. Normal C57BL/6 and BALB/c spleen cells produced comparable levels of T-cell-derived lymphokines (interferon gamma [IFN-gamma], tumor necrosis factor alpha [TNF-alpha], and interleukin-2 [IL-2]) following in vitro stimulation with Con A. A single intravenous injection of Con A to C57BL/6 mice induced the plasma levels of TNF- alpha and IL-2 comparable with or slightly higher than those observed in BALB/c mice, whereas the same treatment resulted in an apparently lower level of IFN-gamma production in C57BL/6 mice. RNA from livers of Con A- treated C57BL/6 mice exhibited lower levels of IFN-gamma mRNA than RNA of BALB/c livers. Unexpectedly, a dramatic difference in the severity of hepatic injury was observed between C57BL/6 and BALB/c. Namely, the peak alanine transaminase (ALT) level was more than 15,000 U/L and inducible as early as 8 hours after injection of 0.2 mg Con A per mouse in the C57BL/6 strain, whereas the peak was approximately 3,000 U/L and induced as late as 24 hours after Con A injection in the BALB/c strain. The increase in plasma ALT levels was limited to less than 10% by injection of anti-IFN-gamma monoclonal antibody (mAb) in both strains. The C57BL/6 strain inducing lower levels of IFN-gamma exhibited higher IFN-gamma responsiveness as exemplified by the intrahepatic expression of an IFN-gamma- indiucible gene, an inducible type of nitric oxide (NO) synthase (iNOS). These results indicate that, while IFN- gamma produced in vivo by activated T cells induces hepatic injury, there exists a striking strain difference in the induction of IFN-gamma-dependent hepatic injury. |