Generation of a mouse expressing a conditional knockout of the hepatocyte growth factor gene: demonstration of impaired liver regeneration

Hepatocyte growth/scatter factor (HGF/SF) is a pleiotropic cytokine originally identified as a potent mitogen for rat hepatocytes. Two HGF/SF knockout mouse models have been reported, both of which exhibit developmental abnormalities causing embryonic lethality. To circumvent this limitation, we created a mouse conditionally deficient in liver expression of HGF/SF to specifically investigate the role of this mitogen in the process of adult liver regeneration. Gene targeting technology was used to generate a mouse with loxP sites flanking exon 5 of the HGF/SF gene (ex5-flox). In the absence of cre recombinase activity, mice homozygous for ex5-flox were indistinguishable from wild-type littermates. To ablate HGF/SF gene expression in vitro, primary hepatocytes established from homozygous HGF(ex5-flox) mice were infected with a recombinant adenoviral vector coding for cre recombinase (AdCre1). PCR analyses of genomic DNA demonstrated greater than 90% ablation of the ex5-floxed gene sequence. In vivo, HGF(ex.5-flox) mice were administered AdCre1 vector and the ablation of the HGF gene confirmed by Southern blot analysis. To induce liver regeneration, mice were injected with the hepatotoxin carbon tetrachloride. The regenerative capacity of hepatocytes in mice administered cre recombinase was shown to be significantly reduced when compared with mice injected with an adenovirus expressing LacZ. A similar reduction in hepatocyte regeneration was observed in HGF(ex.5.flox) mice carrying the cre transgene under the control of the interferon-inducible (pI:pC) Mx1 promoter, as an alternative strategy to ablate the HGF/SF gene in liver. Our results confirm the mitogenic role of HGF/SF in liver regeneration.