title: Reduced hepatic expression of glutathione s-transferases in burned mice.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) contribute to liver homeostasis and are released into plasma after liver injury. This study investigates the hepatic expression of key GST enzyme subtypes after burn injury.
  
  
  METHODS
  Mice were subjected to an 18% total body surface area burn. Expression of mGSTalpha3 and mGSTmu1 was analyzed by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and Western blots on liver preparations from burned and control mice. GST catalytic activity was measured by conjugation assays.
  
  
  RESULTS
  : In burned animals, mGSTalpha3 mRNA was only reduced at 1 day, whereas mGSTmu1 mRNA decreased at 1 day and at 3 days after injury. Total mGSTmu protein levels decreased at the same time points, whereas total mGSTalpha protein levels did not change. Also, by 3 days, total GST conjugation activity was reduced by 25% (p=0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Reduced expression of specific alpha and mu GST enzymes after burns correlates functionally with reduced GST activity. Altered GST expression may contribute to liver damage after systemic injury.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of California, Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, California, USA.
authors.forename: Tam N
authors.initials: TN
authors.lastname: Pham
authors.forename: Kiho
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Aimee J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Warren
authors.forename: David G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Greenhalgh
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D002056:Burns / Q000097:blood* / Q000503:physiopathology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D005982:Glutathione Transferase / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000201:enzymology*; D008111:Liver Function Tests; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011336:Probability; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D005982:Glutathione Transferase