The normal mechanisms of pregnancy-induced liver growth are not maintained in mice lacking the bile acid sensor Fxr.

ABSTRACT: Rodents undergo gestational hepatomegaly to meet the increased metabolic demands on the maternal liver during pregnancy. This is an important physiological process, but the mechanisms and signals driving pregnancy-induced liver growth are not known. Here, we show that liver growth during pregnancy precedes maternal body weight gain, is proportional to fetal number, and is a result of hepatocyte hypertrophy associated with cell-cycle progression, polyploidy, and altered expression of cell-cycle regulators p53, Cyclin-D1, and p27. Because circulating reproductive hormones and bile acids are raised in normal pregnant women and can cause liver growth in rodents, these compounds are candidates for the signal driving gestational liver enlargement in rodents. Administration of pregnancy levels of

SUBMITTER: Milona A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2822506 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature