Age Effects on Liver Inflammation and Injury

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DESCRIPTION (provided by the applicant): Hepatic injury is a primary cause of liver dysfunction in both pediatric and adult patients. Our preliminary studies using an established model of murine hepatic I/R indicate that mature mice (12-13 months of age) have significantly greater liver injury after I/R than do young mice (6-8 weeks of age). These findings are consistent with clinical studies of trauma patients which suggest that pediatric patients have a far lower incidence of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome than do adult patients. The long-term goal of this proposal is to determine the molecular and cellular mechanisms that differentiate young and mature mice in their response to hepatic I/R. Aim 1 will test the hypothesis that the transcription factor, NF-KB, is selectively depressed in hepatocytes of mature mice, leading to increased cell death and organ injury. We show that NF-KappaB activation is decreased in whole livers from mature mice, but that proinflammatory cytokine production is unaltered, suggesting that Kupffer cell activation of NF-KappaB is unaltered with age. Aim 2 will test the hypothesis that reduced hepatic expression of HSP70 in mature mice leads to increased oxidative tissue injury and hepatocyte cell death contributing to augmented I/R injury. We provide evidence that HSP70 protein expression is reduced in livers from mature mice and that this is associated with increased hepatocellular injury of both necrotic and apoptotic mechanisms. Aim 3 will test the hypothesis that CD4 lymphocytes serve to regulate hepatic I/R injury and that in mature mice altered function of CD4 lymphocytes contributes to augmented liver injury. Our preliminary data demonstrates that CD4-knockout mice have increased liver injury after I/R in a pattern that is identical to that observed in mature mice. We also show significant differences in the phenotypes of liver-resident lymphocytes between young and mature mice. Aim 4 will test the hypothesis that there are a number of cell-specific alterations in the proteomes of liver cells between young and mature mice and that these changes contribute to the divergent responses to I/R injury in these age populations. We will employ proteomics to determine the subcellular proteomes of Kupffer cells, hepatocytes, sinusoidal endothelial cells, and liver-resident lymphocytes before and after I/R to identify age-related alterations. These studies will advance our understanding of the age-dependent mechanisms that differentiate the hepatic inflammatory response of adult and pediatric patient populations to acute liver injury.