| Budget Amount *help |
¥19,110,000 (Direct Cost: ¥14,700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥4,410,000)
Fiscal Year 2013: ¥4,290,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥990,000)
Fiscal Year 2012: ¥5,460,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,260,000)
Fiscal Year 2011: ¥9,360,000 (Direct Cost: ¥7,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥2,160,000)
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| Research Abstract |
To investigate the effects of splenectomy on liver fibrosis, BALB/c mice underwent splenectomy or sham operation and subjected to carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) or thioacetamide (TAA) treatments. Splenectomy significantly suppressed liver fibrosis in the CCl4 and TAA models. The inhibitory effect of splenectomy on liver fibrosis was not observed in SCID mice.
To investigate the mechanisms underlying these effects, we investigated the change of liver Th1/Th2 balance. As a result, splenectomy shifted Th1/Th2 balance toward Th1-dominance. In addition, the number of CD4+ lymphocytes in the spleen was decreased. In contrast, that in the liver was increased. GFP+ splenic lymphocytes were transplanted into the spleen of wild type mice. GFP+CD4+ lymphocytes appeared in the liver after induction of fibrosis and the vast majority of them were Th2 lymphocytes by flow cytometry.
We conclude that splenectomy suppresses progression of liver fibrosis at least partly through restoring the Th1/Th2 balance.
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