| Budget Amount *help |
¥1,800,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,800,000)
Fiscal Year 1988: ¥800,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000)
Fiscal Year 1987: ¥1,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000)
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| Research Abstract |
1) The relationship between plasm fibronectin (FN) levels and the regenerative process in liver remnants after hepatectomy was studied in patients and in rats with or without liver cirrhosis (LC). Plasma FN levels were reduced immediately after hepatectomy in human and rat. Both patients and rats with normal livers returned to the preoperative plasma FN livels within one month and one week, respectively, but low levels of plasma FN persisted longer in those with LC. FN levels were well correlated with the degree of the hepatic regeneration. These results suggest the usefulness of plasma FN levels as a parameter for liver regeneration. 2) Moreover, we studied the role of FN or aprotinin supplementation on the process of liver regeneration following hepatectomy in rats. After 70% hepatectomy, rats were immediately given purified human plasma FN and/or aprotinin intraperitoneally. The admi nistration of FN and aprotinin significantly increased ^3H-thymidine uptake, the phagocytic index of the reticuloendothelial system, the mitotic index, and the liver regeneration rate following hepatectomy, but the injection of aprotinin alone did not significantly promote those indices. On the other hand, the supplementation of indomethacin for the liver regeneration resulted in significant suppression of the tritiated thymidine uptake, 24 hours after hepatectomy, and overcame the stimulative effect of FN and aprotinin on DNA synthesis. These results suggest that FN may act as an activator of the reticuloendothelial system, and especially on the activation of Kupffer cells, which stimulate the release of prostaglandins promoting DNA synthesis in the process of liver regeneration, and, also aprotinin may enhance the effect of FN by inhibiting the proteolysis of FN. 3) In the liver cirrhosis rats induced by thioacetamide, the supplementation of FN and aprotinin also increased DNA synthesis, 24 hours after hepatectomy, but lower than those in normal liver rats.
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