title: Hypoxia/reoxygenation injury in liver: Kupffer cells are much more vulnerable to reoxygenation than to hypoxia.
abstract: Cell injury due to hypoxia and reoxygenation was studied in primary cultured rat Kupffer cells. Under hypoxic conditions only 20% of the cells had lost their viability after 12 h of incubation. In contrast, almost complete losses of cell viability were observed when reoxygenation was performed after 2, 4 or 6 h of hypoxia. The time-course of reoxygenation injury in Kupffer cells was characterized by a lag phase of 2 h during which no difference between reoxygenated and hypoxically incubated cells was apparent; during the next 4 h, there was an increase of up to 100% in the amount of nonviable cells in the reoxygenated cultures. These results indicate that Kupffer cells were much more vulnerable to reoxygenation than to hypoxia. The time-course of cell damage upon hypoxia/reoxygenation may indicate a self-destruction mechanism caused by an oxygen-triggered activation of these cells.
authors.affiliation: Klinische Forschergruppe Leberschädigung, Universität Düsseldorf, F.R.G.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rymsa
authors.forename: H D
authors.initials: HD
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lauchart
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: de Groot
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002470:Cell Survival; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000473:pathology; D007728:Kupffer Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D008099:Liver / Q000293:injuries* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D010100:Oxygen / Q000009:adverse effects; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen