Autophagy suppresses age-dependent ischemia and reperfusion injury in livers of mice.

ABSTRACT:

Background & aims

As life expectancy increases, there are greater numbers of patients with liver diseases who require surgery or transplantation. Livers of older patients have significantly less reparative capacity following ischemia and reperfusion (I/R) injury, which occurs during these operations. There are no strategies to reduce the age-dependent I/R injury. We investigated the role of autophagy in the age dependence of sensitivity to I/R injury.

Methods

Hepatocytes and livers from 3- and 26-month-old mice were subjected to in vitro and in vivo I/R, respectively. We analyzed changes in autophagy-related proteins (Atg). Mitochondrial dysfunction was visualized using confocal and intravital multi-photon microscopy of isolated hepatocytes and livers from anesthetized mice,

SUBMITTER: Wang JH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3221865 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature