title: Biological effects of pyrroloquinoline quinone on liver damage in Bmi-1 knockout mice.
abstract: Pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ) has been demonstrated to function as an antioxidant by scavenging free radicals and subsequently protecting the mitochondria from oxidative stress-induced damage. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether PQQ is able to rescue premature senescence in the liver, induced by the deletion of B cell-specific Moloney MLV insertion site-1 (Bmi-1), by inhibiting oxidative stress.In vivo, the mice were allocated into three groups that underwent the following treatment protocols. WT mice received a normal diet, while BKO mice also received a normal diet. An additional group of BKO mice were fed a PQQ-supplemented diet (BKO + PQQ; 4 mg PQQ/kg in the normal diet). The results indicated that PQQ partially rescued the liver damage induced by the deletion of Bmi-1. PQQ was demonstrated to exhibit these therapeutic effects on liver damage through multiple aspects, including the promotion of proliferation, antiapoptotic effects, the inhibition of senescence, the upregulation of antioxidant ability, the downregulation of cell cycle protein expression, the scavenging of reactive oxygen species and the reduction of DNA damage. The results of these experiments indicated that treatment of BKO mice with a moderate dose of PQQ significantly protected the liver from deleterious effects by inhibiting oxidative stress and participating in DNA damage repair. Therefore, PQQ has great potential as a therapeutic agent against oxidative stress during liver damage.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine, The Research Center for Bone and Stem Cells, Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, P.R. China ; Department of Stomatology, Hunan University of Medicine, Huaihua, Hunan 418000, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yuanqing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine, The Research Center for Bone and Stem Cells, Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine, The Research Center for Bone and Stem Cells, Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Dengshun
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Miao
keywords: B cell-specific Moloney MLV insertion site-1; antioxidants; liver; oxidative stress; pyrroloquinoline quinone