Hemin treatment reverts liver injury due to the chronic consumption of a sucrose rich diet

WISZNIEWSKI, MORENA ; VECINO, CAROLINA ; CALDARERI, LILIAN ; SANCHEZ PUCH, SILVIA ; CYMERYNG, CORA ; REPETTO, ESTEBAN

Buenos Aires

Congreso; IV INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS IN TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE; 2018

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disease, representing the hepatic component of metabolic syndrome. It comprises a wide spectrum of histological alterations, from simple steatosis to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. Since the long-term consumption of sucrose rich diets (SRD) has been shown to induce damage to hepatic tissue attributed to the generation of oxidative stress, our main objective was to evaluate the effects of systemic hemin treatment, known to induce cytoprotective HO-1 activity, on hepatic parameters of insulin resistant (IR) animals. For this purpose, male Wistar rats were randomly distributed into control (C) or SRD groups (30% sucrose in the drinking water over 12 weeks). Hemin (15 mg/kg/48h, ip) was administered during the last two weeks of treatment (H and SRD+H groups). Our results indicate that, compared to controls, rats fed a SRD present higher levels of glycaemia and triglyceridemia. Neither glycaemia nor the TG/HDLc index or PEPCK protein levels (assessed by western blot) were modified by hemin treatment, suggesting that this treatment does not affect the IR state of the animals. Nevertheless, hemin administration attenuated the increases in lipoperoxide levels (TBARS), in the activities of antioxidant enzymes (such as catalase and SOD) and in apoptosis, assessed by the number of TUNEL positive cells, and the measurement of cleaved caspase-3 levels by western blot. This treatment also normalized the serum activity of alanine transaminase (ALT), a marker of liver damage that was augmented in the SRD group (p