肝硬化时血浆氨基酸的改变

<正> 肝脏是体内氨基酸代谢的中心器官,除支链氨基酸(BCAA)亮氨酸(Leu)、异亮氨酸(Ile)、缬氨酸(Val)以外,几乎所有的氨基酸均主要在肝脏进行降解代谢。当肝脏发生疾患时,体内氨基酸代谢出现紊乱,血浆游离氨基酸发生显著改变。这已为许多临床及氨基酸研究的结果所证实。     

不同肝脏疾病患者血浆游离氨基酸水平改变的模式

采用DNS -Cl荧光标记氨基酸 ,聚酰胺薄膜层析 ,分析了慢性血吸虫病肝肿大、晚期血吸虫病肝肿大 ,慢活肝 ,慢迁肝以及肝硬化等五种不同肝损伤患者血浆游离氨基酸水平 ,结果发现它们血浆游离氨基酸改变 ,均有一定的特异的模式     

急性肝损伤大鼠模型的血浆氨基酸代谢变化模式

以Ｄ－氨基半乳糖（Ｄ－Ｇａｌａｃｔｏｓａｍｉｎｅ,Ｄ－ＧａｌＮ）造成急性肝损伤（急性肝炎、急性肝坏死）大鼠模型后、对照观察了急性肝损伤大鼠血浆氨基酸的变化,建立了大鼠急性肝损伤时血浆氨基酸的变化模式并对其发生机理进行了探讨。大鼠血浆氨基酸的测定采用聚酰薄层荧光分析技术,其测定结果是：急性肝炎组,酪氨酸（Ｔｙｒ）、天冬氨酸（Ａｓｐ）、谷氨酰胺（Ｇｌｎ）和鸟氨酸（Ｏｒｎ）升高,精氨酸（Ａｒｇ）下降,其余氨基酸无显著变化。急性肝坏死组,除Ａｒｇ显著下降外,其余所有氨基酸都显著升高,而两组支链氨基酸（ＢＣＡＡ）／芳香族氨基酸（ＡＡＡ）克分子比值均显著下降。     

人体体液游离氨基酸的超微量分析方法

<正> 随着医学的发展,许多疾病如肝脏疾病,肾脏疾病,脑—神经系统某些疾病以及氨基酸代谢性疾病等均能引起不同体液中游离氨基酸的种类和浓度的改变,为此目前临床上迫切需一种快速,简便和经济的分析方法,了解不同体液游离氨基酸变化的情况,以便于疾病的诊断和治疗。本文在1981年分离和鉴定了正常人血浆中21种氨基酸,尿液中18种氨基酸,羊水中17种氨基酸以及脑脊液中18种氨基酸的工作基础上,进一步摸索了关于DNS—C1荧光反应,聚酰胺薄膜层析分离游离氨基酸的超微量分析方法。     

肝昏迷患者脑脊液中游离氨基酸的分析

<正> 肝昏迷的发病机理,早在30年前已提出了氨中毒学说,直至1971年Fisher等人提出了伪神经递质学说,1975年munro等人又提出了胰岛素—血浆氨基酸失衡学说,但均不能得到圆满的解释,近十多年来基础和临床医学科学家们,一直在严密观察肝昏迷氨基酸代谢的改变情况。本文采用一种快速、简便和灵敏的DANS-Cl(1-Di-methyla-     

结核性胸膜炎患者血浆游离氨基酸改变

<正> 结核性胸膜炎是由于结核菌侵犯胸膜,当人体处在高度变态反应时所引起胸膜的渗出性病变,属一种常见的胸膜炎。为了探索结核病患者的氨基酸营养状态,确立结核性胸膜炎患者血浆游离氨基酸模式,便于营养支持疗法,增强患者免疫力,兹将我院收治的10例结核性胸膜炎患者的13种血浆游离氨基酸作如下分析。     

铁代谢紊乱和其它致病因素介导的肝氧化损伤及抗氧化保护策略研究进展

铁是人体所必需的微量元素,独特的化学活性使其成为血红蛋白和多种酶类的重要组成部分,同时,铁也可以催化产生各种自由基分子。作为铁的主要储存器官,肝脏在维持机体铁稳态中起着中心枢纽作用。当肝脏发生铁调节紊乱或者受到各种肝脏致病因素(丙型肝炎病毒、乙型肝炎病毒和酒精)侵袭时,都会造成自由基分子的过量生成。若机体的抗氧化防御系统不能将这些自由基及时清除,将会导致氧化应激损伤介导的肝损伤。目前的研究表明,针对肝脏疾病患者进行去铁及抗氧化治疗是一种有效的治疗模式。因此,研究肝脏铁代谢及各种肝脏疾病致病因素引起的氧化应激具有重要的理论和临床意义。     

人的氨基酸代谢

<正> 在人的氨基酸代谢这个题目中有许多问题要讨论,本文着重介绍氨基酸代谢和糖异生的关系,文章中引用的材料主要是用人做实验得到的,也用了一部分动物实验的材料。吸收后状态氨基酸的交换正常人血浆氨基酸的浓度比较稳定,波动不大,这是组织蛋白质释出氨基酸和组织利用氨基酸之间维持动平衡的结果。体内自由氨基酸池约50％以上在肌肉中,肝脏是清除氮的尿素循环酶的仓库,所以这两个器官对全身氨基酸水平及氨基酸的更新起重要作用。     

人的氨基酸代谢

<正> 在人的氨基酸代谢这个题目中有许多问题要讨论,本文着重介绍氨基酸代谢和糖异生的关系,文章中引用的材料主要是用人做实验得到的,也用了一部分动物实验的材料。吸收后状态氨基酸的交换正常人血浆氨基酸的浓度比较稳定,波动不大,这是组织蛋白质释出氨基酸和组织利用氨基酸之间维持动平衡的结果。体内自由氨基酸池约50％以上在肌肉中,肝脏是清除氮的尿素循环酶的仓库,所以这两个器官对全身氨基酸水平及氨基酸的更新起重要作用。     

灵芝子实体多糖对小鼠急性酒精肝损伤预防的代谢组分析

灵芝多糖是灵芝的主要药理活性成分之一。本研究通过检测血清指标分析灵芝子实体多糖（Ganoderma lingzhi fruitbody polysaccharides,GLFPS）对小鼠急性酒精性肝损伤的预防作用并结合代谢组学探究作用机制。结果显示,GLFPS显著抑制因酒精作用而升高的小鼠血清中ALT、AST、TG、TC和ADH水平。通过代谢组分析,在模型组与对照组中得到85个差异代谢物,其中三磷酸腺苷（adenosine triphosphate）、L-天门冬氨酸（L-aspartic acid）以及赖氨酸（L-lysine）等在相互作用网络中起重要作用,说明酒精能引起小鼠肝脏腺苷和氨基酸代谢的改变。GLFPS组与模型组有58个差异代谢物,主要包括脂质和有机氧化物,说明GLFPS可以通过调节小鼠肝脏中脂质与有机化合物代谢来预防急性酒精肝损伤。对差异代谢物进行KEGG富集分析发现主要涉及胆碱代谢、甘油磷脂代谢和ABC转运蛋白。GLFPS能够有效缓解这3个代谢通路中因酒精作用发生明显改变的代谢。综上可见,灵芝子实体多糖能够通过调节小鼠胆碱代谢、甘油磷脂代谢以及部分ABC转运蛋白有效预防酒精性肝损伤。     

The SARS-CoV-2 induced targeted amino acid profiling in patients at hospitalized and convalescent stage

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has induced an ongoing global health crisis. Here we utilized a combination of targeted amino acids (AAs) and clinical biochemical profiling to analyze the plasma of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) subjects at the hospitalization stage and 1-month post-infection convalescent stage, respectively, to investigate the systematic injury during COVID-19 disease progress. We found the virus-induced inflammatory status and reduced liver synthesis capacity in hospitalized patients, which manifested with increased branched-chain AAs (BCAAs), aromatic AAs (AAAs), one-carbon related metabolites, and decreased methionine. Most of these disturbances during infection recover except for the increased levels of medium-chain acylcarnitines (ACs) in the convalescent subjects, implying the existence of incomplete fatty acids oxidation during recovery periods. Our results suggested that the imbalance of the AA profiling in COVID-19 patients. The majority of disturbed AAs recovered in 1 month. The incomplete fatty acid oxidation products suggested it might take longer time for convalescent patients to get complete recovery.     

What fires prometheus? The link between inflammation and regeneration following chronic liver injury

Liver progenitor cells (LPCs) play a major role in the regeneration process after chronic liver damage, giving rise to hepatocytes and cholangiocytes. Thus, they provide a cell-based therapeutic alternative to organ transplant, the current treatment of choice for end-stage liver disease. In recent years, much attention has focused on unravelling the cytokines and growth factors that underlie this response. Liver regeneration following acute damage is achieved by proliferation of mature hepatocytes; yet similar cytokines, most related to the inflammatory process, are implicated in both acute and chronic liver regeneration. Thus, many recent studies represent attempts to identify LPC-specific factors. This review summarises our current understanding of LPC biology with a particular focus on the liver inflammatory response being associated with the induction of LPCs in the liver. We will describe: (i) the pathways of liver regeneration following acute and chronic damage; (ii) the similarities and differences between the two pathways; (iii) the liver inflammatory environment; (iv) the unique features of liver immunology as well as (v) the interactions between liver immune cells and LPCs. Combining data from studies on the LPC-driven regeneration process with the knowledge in the field of liver immunology will improve our understanding of the LPC response and allow us to regulate these cells in vivo and in vitro for future therapeutic strategies to treat chronic liver disease.     

Integrative Metabolic Signatures for Hepatic Radiation Injury

Background

Radiation-induced liver disease (RILD) is a dose-limiting factor in curative radiation therapy (RT) for liver cancers, making early detection of radiation-associated liver injury absolutely essential for medical intervention. A metabolomic approach was used to determine metabolic signatures that could serve as biomarkers for early detection of RILD in mice.

Methods

Anesthetized C57BL/6 mice received 0, 10 or 50 Gy Whole Liver Irradiation (WLI) and were contrasted to mice, which received 10 Gy whole body irradiation (WBI). Liver and plasma samples were collected at 24 hours after irradiation. The samples were processed using Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry and Liquid Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry.

Results

Twenty four hours after WLI, 407 metabolites were detected in liver samples while 347 metabolites were detected in plasma. Plasma metabolites associated with 50 Gy WLI included several amino acids, purine and pyrimidine metabolites, microbial metabolites, and most prominently bradykinin and 3-indoxyl-sulfate. Liver metabolites associated with 50 Gy WLI included pentose phosphate, purine, and pyrimidine metabolites in liver. Plasma biomarkers in common between WLI and WBI were enriched in microbial metabolites such as 3 indoxyl sulfate, indole-3-lactic acid, phenyllactic acid, pipecolic acid, hippuric acid, and markers of DNA damage such as 2-deoxyuridine. Metabolites associated with tryptophan and indoles may reflect radiation-induced gut microbiome effects. Predominant liver biomarkers in common between WBI and WLI were amino acids, sugars, TCA metabolites (fumarate), fatty acids (lineolate, n-hexadecanoic acid) and DNA damage markers (uridine).

Conclusions

We identified a set of metabolomic markers that may prove useful as plasma biomarkers of RILD and WBI. Pathway analysis also suggested that the unique metabolic changes observed after liver irradiation was an integrative response of the intestine, liver and kidney.     

The GCN2 eIF2alpha kinase regulates fatty-acid homeostasis in the liver during deprivation of an essential amino acid

Metabolic adaptation is required to cope with episodes of protein deprivation and malnutrition. GCN2 eIF2alpha kinase, a sensor of amino acid deficiency, plays a key role in yeast and mammals in modulating amino acid metabolism as part of adaptation to nutrient deprivation. The role of GCN2 in adaptation to long-term amino acid deprivation in mammals, however, is poorly understood. We found that expression of lipogenic genes and the activity of fatty acid synthase (FAS) in the liver are repressed and lipid stores in adipose tissue are mobilized in wild-type mice upon leucine deprivation. In contrast, GCN2-deficient mice developed liver steatosis and exhibited reduced lipid mobilization. Liver steatosis in Gcn2(-/-) mice was found to be caused by unrepressed expression of lipogenic genes, including Srebp-1c and Fas. Thus, our study identifies a novel function of GCN2 in regulating lipid metabolism during leucine deprivation in addition to regulating amino acid metabolism.     

Purification and characterization of fatty-acid-binding proteins from rat heart and liver

Fatty-acid-binding proteins were purified from delipidated cytosols of rat heart and liver by gel filtration and anion-exchange chromatography at pH 8.0 and by repeated gel filtration, respectively. Homogeneity of both proteins was demonstrated by a single band on polyacrylamide gels; each had a molecular weight of about 14 000. Liver fatty-acid-binding protein is more basic (pI, 8.1) than that of heart (pI, 7.0) and contains more basic amino acids. Examination of fatty acid binding by the binding proteins from heart and liver revealed the presence of a single class of fatty-acid-binding sites in both cases with an apparent dissociation constant for palmitate of about 1 microM. Liver fatty- acid-binding protein shows similar binding characteristics for palmitate, oleate and arachidonate. Palmitate bound to heart fatty- acid-binding protein was a good substrate for oxidation by rat heart mitochondria. The results show that the fatty-acid-binding proteins from rat heart and liver are closely related, but that they are distinct proteins.     

Alpha-lipoic acid treatment of acetaminophen-induced rat liver damage

Acetaminophen (paracetamol) is a well-tolerated analgesic and antipyretic drug when used at therapeutic doses. Overdoses, however, cause oxidative stress, which leads to acute liver failure. Alpha lipoic acid is an antioxidant that has proven effective for ameliorating many pathological conditions caused by oxidative stress. We evaluated the effect of alpha lipoic acid on the histological and histochemical alterations of liver caused by an acute overdose of acetaminophen in rats. Livers of acetaminophen-intoxicated rats were congested and showed centrilobular necrosis, vacuolar degeneration and inflammatory cell infiltration. Necrotic hepatocytes lost most of their carbohydrates, lipids and structural proteins. Liver sections from rats pre-treated with lipoic acid showed fewer pathological changes; the hepatocytes appeared moderately vacuolated with moderate staining of carbohydrates and proteins. Nevertheless, alpha lipoic acid at the dose we used did not protect the liver fully from acetaminophen-induced acute toxicity.     

植物氨基酸转运子研究进展

氨基酸是高等植物氮素同化产物长距离运输及在组织间分配的主要形式,通过跨膜转运的方式在植物体内进行运输。氨基酸转运子是位于生物膜上吸收及转运氨基酸的蛋白家族,对植物氮素营养具有重要贡献。本文对植物氨基酸转运子的表达、调控及其与氮素利用效率、植物产量与品质形成、抗逆性及适应性等方面的研究进展进行了综述。     

Mixed cryoglobulinemia

Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is a chronic and slowly progressive cholestatic liver disease of autoimmune etiology characterized by injury of the intrahepatic bile ducts that may eventually lead to liver failure. Affected individuals are usually in their fifth to seventh decades of life at time of diagnosis, and 90% are women. Annual incidence is estimated between 0.7 and 49 cases per million-population and prevalence between 6.7 and 940 cases per million-population (depending on age and sex). The majority of patients are asymptomatic at diagnosis, however, some patients present with symptoms of fatigue and/or pruritus. Patients may even present with ascites, hepatic encephalopathy and/or esophageal variceal hemorrhage. PBC is associated with other autoimmune diseases such as Sjogren's syndrome, scleroderma, Raynaud's phenomenon and CREST syndrome and is regarded as an organ specific autoimmune disease. Genetic susceptibility as a predisposing factor for PBC has been suggested. Environmental factors may have potential causative role (infection, chemicals, smoking). Diagnosis is based on a combination of clinical features, abnormal liver biochemical pattern in a cholestatic picture persisting for more than six months and presence of detectable antimitochondrial antibodies (AMA) in serum. All AMA negative patients with cholestatic liver disease should be carefully evaluated with cholangiography and liver biopsy. Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) is the only currently known medication that can slow the disease progression. Patients, particularly those who start UDCA treatment at early-stage disease and who respond in terms of improvement of the liver biochemistry, have a good prognosis. Liver transplantation is usually an option for patients with liver failure and the outcome is 70% survival at 7 years. Recently, animal models have been discovered that may provide a new insight into the pathogenesis of this disease and facilitate appreciation for novel treatment in PBC.     

Expression of rainbow trout apolipoprotein A-I genes in liver and hepatocellular carcinoma.

Screening for genes overexpressed in trout aflatoxin B1-induced hepatocellular carcinomas resulted in the isolation of cDNA sequences of two apolipoprotein A-Is, apoA-I-1 and apoA-I-2. The levels of apoA-I-1 and -2 mRNAs of liver and tumor were quite different. ApoA-I-1 mRNA was the major species in liver, while apoA-I-1 and -2 mRNAs were present at similar levels in several tumors. This elevated level of apoA-I-2 mRNA was observed in seven different tumors, suggesting that the overexpression of apoA-I-2 was a general feature of aflatoxin B1-induced liver tumors. Hybridization to genomic DNA demonstrated that trout has two different apoA-I genes which is in contrast to other vertebrates which have one gene coding for apoA-I. Liver apoA-I-1 and -2 cDNA clones specified the same amino acid sequence as the tumor apoA-I-1 and -2 cDNA clones. Analysis of the cDNA-derived amino acid sequences showed that trout apoA-I-1 and -2, like human apoA-I, consist largely of multiple 22 amino acid repeats having the potential to generate an amphipathic alpha-helix. The similarity of the repeat pattern in trout and human apoA-Is suggests that all the internal repeats in these sequences arose before the fish-mammal split, some 400 million years ago.