title: Impairment of TNF-alpha expression and secretion in primary rat liver cell cultures by acetaminophen treatment.
abstract: Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) is assumed to act as a mediator in toxic liver injury, aggravating the primary damage to the parenchymal liver cell, but also stimulating liver regeneration. Reports on the effect of acetaminophen in vivo on TNF-alpha transcript concentrations and serum TNF-alpha concentrations, under different experimental, or clinical conditions have yielded controversial results. We used primary rat hepatocyte and Kupffer cell cultures to test the direct action of subtoxic and toxic concentrations of acetaminophen on TNF-alpha expression and release. We observed a dose-dependent decrease of TNF-alpha mRNA in the hepatocytes, and of TNF-alpha release into the medium of hepatocyte cultures. The data also indicate an impairment of TNF-alpha release in Kupffer cell cultures after treatment with nontoxic, as well as with toxic, acetaminophen concentrations. The results suggest that inhibition of TNF-alpha expression and release in the liver is a consequence of acetaminophen exposure. It is at present unknown how this effect modulates the course of acetaminophen intoxication.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Toxicology, University of Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nastevska
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gerber
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Horbach
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Röhrdanz
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kahl
mesh_terms: D000082:Acetaminophen / Q000633:toxicity*; D018712:Analgesics, Non-Narcotic / Q000633:toxicity*; D000818:Animals; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D007728:Kupffer Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D008099:Liver / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D018712:Analgesics, Non-Narcotic; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D000082:Acetaminophen