title: Hemin protects against hippocampal damage following orthotopic autologous liver transplantation in adult rats.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Induction of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) has been widely accepted to be neuro-protective. This study aimed to examine whether hemin (a HO-1 inducer) attenuates neuronal damage in the hippocampus induced by orthotopic autologous liver transplantation (OALT) in adult rats.
  
  
  METHODS
  Rats were randomly allocated into four groups (n=8 each): (i) Sham control group; (ii) OALT model group; (iii) Hemin+OALT group, with intra-peritoneal (i.p.) injection of hemin (5 mg/kg) 24 hours (h) before the OALT; and (iv) ZnPP (a HO-1 inhibitor)+OALT group, with i.p. injection of ZnPP (32 mg/kg) 24h before the OALT. Twenty four hours after the surgery, the hippocampal tissues were collected for electron microscopic examination and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) analysis. The levels of hippocampal HO-1 protein and serum S-100β, the concentrations of regional tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukins (IL-6, IL-10), as well as the status of malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) in the hippocampus were assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Rats suffered severe neuronal damage in the hippocampus after OALT, mainly in apoptosis. Pre-treatment with hemin obviously alleviated the damage; up-regulated the HO-1 protein level; inhibited the release of TNF-α, IL-6 and MDA; and promoted the activities of SOD, CAT and IL-10; however, pre-treatment with ZnPP did not exhibit the opposite effect, except that a marked increase in serum S-100β level was detected.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Hemin up-regulated the expression of HO-1 and attenuated hippocampal neuronal damage induced by OALT.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, The Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510630, Guangdong Province, PR China; Department of Anesthesiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, University of South China, Hengyang 421000, Hunan Province, PR China.
authors.forename: Yiheng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, The Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510630, Guangdong Province, PR China; Department of Anesthesiology, The Affiliated Hospital of Luzhou Medical School, Luzhou 646000, Sichuan Province, PR China.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Fujian Provincial Hospital, Fuzhou 350000, Fujian Province, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiaofang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510630, Guangdong Province, PR China.
authors.forename: Tingting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, The Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510630, Guangdong Province, PR China.
authors.forename: Xinjin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chi
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, The Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510630, Guangdong Province, PR China. Electronic address: caijun10211@126.com.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cai
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D002374:Catalase / Q000378:metabolism; D016207:Cytokines / Q000096:biosynthesis; D015971:Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic / Q000187:drug effects*; D051547:Heme Oxygenase-1 / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D006427:Hemin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000201:enzymology / Q000293:injuries / Q000473:pathology; D016031:Liver Transplantation; D008297:Male; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D064568:S100 Calcium Binding Protein beta Subunit / Q000096:biosynthesis; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase / Q000378:metabolism; D015854:Up-Regulation / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D064568:S100 Calcium Binding Protein beta Subunit; D006427:Hemin; D002374:Catalase; D051547:Heme Oxygenase-1; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase
keywords: HO-1; Hemin; Hippocampus; Liver transplantation; OALT