Correlation between the blood release of mir-122 and transaminases in rat models of hepatotoxicity.

M.N. LARDIZABAL; L.C. LASAVE; A.L. NOCITO; S.M. DANIELE; R.D. ARCE; S.L. PALATNIK; L.M. VEGGI

Madryn, Argentina

Congreso; XLVI Reunión Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Bioquímica y Biología Molecular; 2010

Sociedad Argentina de Bioquimica y Bilogia Molecular

Drug-induced liver injury is a significant clinical problem. The plasma activities of alanine aminotransferase (ALTp) and aspartate aminotransferase (ASTp) are the main hepatotoxicity biomarkers in both animal models and human patients. Mir-122 is a small noncoding RNA that is expressed exclusively in the liver and it has been shown to increase its concentration in the blood of murine models of hepatotoxicity. We studied the liver histology and assessed the blood levels of mir-122 (mir122b), ALTp and ASTp in rats treated (n=18, i.p., 24 hs) with carbon tetrachloride (0, 0.1, 0.4, 0.7, 1 mL/kg), acetaminophen (0; 0.25; 0.5; 0.75; 1 g/kg) and thioacetamide (0,10, 50, 150 mg/kg). Mir122b was determined in total blood RNA (Trizol isolation) by Stem Loop RT-qPCR. ALTp and ASTp were measured using commercial kits. Since the sample size for each dosage group was inadequate to test the assumption of normality, then both Pearson product-moment (Pe, parametric) and Spearman´s rank (Sp, nonparametric) correlation coefficients were determined. The variables were expressed relative to control levels and plotted as log10. We observed a significant and very strong correlation between mir122b and ALTp (Pe: r = 0.91, p