title: Baicalein pretreatment reduces liver ischemia/reperfusion injury via induction of autophagy in rats.
abstract: We previously demonstrated that baicalein could protect against liver ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in mice. The exact mechanism of baicalein remains poorly understood. Autophagy plays an important role in protecting against I/R injury. This study was designed to determine whether baicalein could protect against liver I/R injury via induction of autophagy in rats. Baicalein was intraperitoneally injected 1 h before warm ischemia. Pretreatment with baicalein prior to I/R insult significantly blunted I/R-induced elevations of serum aminotransferase levels and significantly improved the histological status of livers. Electron microscopy and expression of the autophagic marker LC3B-II suggested induction of autophagy after baicalein treatment. Moreover, inhibition of the baicalein-induced autophagy using 3-methyladenine (3-MA) worsened liver injury. Furthermore, baicalein treatment increased heme oxygenase (HO)-1 expression, and pharmacological inhibition of HO-1 with tin protoporphyrin IX (SnPP) abolished the baicalein-mediated autophagy and the hepatocellular protection. In primary rat hepatocytes, baicalein-induced autophagy also protected hepatocytes from hypoxia/reoxygenation injury in vitro and the beneficial effect was abrogated by 3-MA or Atg7 siRNA, respectively. Suppression of HO-1 activity by SnPP or HO-1 siRNA prevented the baicalein-mediated autophagy and resulted in increased hepatocellular injury. Collectively, these results suggest that baicalein prevents hepatocellular injury via induction of HO-1-mediated autophagy.
authors.affiliation: Experimental Medicine Center, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 1095 Jiefang Avenue, Wuhan 430030, China.|Experimental Transplantation Surgery, Department of General, Visceral and Vascular Surgery, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, 1 Drackendorfer straße, Jena 07747, Germany.
authors.forename: Anding
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Blood Transfusion, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 1095 Jiefang Avenue, Wuhan 430030, China.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Graduate School, Southern Medical University, 1023 Shatai Nan Road, Guangzhou 510515, China.|Department of Infectious Diseases, Wuhan General Hospital of Guangzhou Military Command, 627 Wuluo Road, Wuhan 430070, China.
authors.forename: Enshuang
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Graduate School, Southern Medical University, 1023 Shatai Nan Road, Guangzhou 510515, China.|Department of Infectious Diseases, Wuhan General Hospital of Guangzhou Military Command, 627 Wuluo Road, Wuhan 430070, China.
authors.forename: Renlong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Experimental Medicine Center, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 1095 Jiefang Avenue, Wuhan 430030, China.
authors.forename: Jiankun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Animal Experiment Center, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 1095 Jiefang Avenue, Wuhan 430030, China.
authors.forename: Anyi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Experimental Medicine Center, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 1095 Jiefang Avenue, Wuhan 430030, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Experimental Medicine Center, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 1095 Jiefang Avenue, Wuhan 430030, China.
authors.forename: Shenpei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Experimental Medicine Center, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 1095 Jiefang Avenue, Wuhan 430030, China.
authors.forename: Jifa
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Wuhan General Hospital of Guangzhou Military Command, 627 Wuluo Road, Wuhan 430070, China.
authors.forename: Xiaojing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Experimental Transplantation Surgery, Department of General, Visceral and Vascular Surgery, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, 1 Drackendorfer straße, Jena 07747, Germany.
authors.forename: Olaf
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Dirsch
authors.affiliation: Experimental Transplantation Surgery, Department of General, Visceral and Vascular Surgery, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, 1 Drackendorfer straße, Jena 07747, Germany.
authors.forename: Uta
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Dahmen
authors.affiliation: Department of Biliopancreatic Surgery, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, 107 Yanjiang xi Road, Guangzhou 510120, China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sun
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001343:Autophagy; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D044950:Flavanones / Q000378:metabolism*; D006651:Histocytochemistry; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology*; D051379:Mice; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D051381:Rats; D015427:Reperfusion Injury / Q000517:prevention & control*; D000637:Transaminases / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D044950:Flavanones; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins; D000637:Transaminases; C526109:Anxa3 protein, rat; C006680:baicalein