HMGB1 in ischemic and non-ischemic liver after selective warm ischemia/reperfusion in rat

High mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) acts as an early mediator in inflammation and organ injury. Ischemia reperfusion (I/R) injury induces HMGB1 translocation and expression in ischemic areas. However, it is unknown whether selective warm liver I/R injury also induces the expression of HMGB1 in non-ischemic lobes. The present study aimed to test the hypothesis that selective liver I/R injury also causes HMGB1 translocation and up-regulates its expression in non-ischemic liver areas. In the present study, selective I/R injury was induced by clamping the median and left lateral liver lobes for 90 min followed by 0.5, 6 and 24 h reperfusion. We used male inbred Lewis rats; six animals for each point in time and six animals for the normal control group. Selective hepatic I/R injury induced morphological changes not only in ischemic lobes but also in non-ischemic lobes. HMGB1 translocation and expression was increased in a time-dependent manner in the ischemic lobes, and increased in with delayed onset in the non-ischemic lobes. Serum HMGB1 levels were increased after reperfusion. Furthermore, liver I/R injury up-regulated the expression of HMGB1 receptors (Toll-like receptor 4 and receptor for advanced glycation end products and pro-inflammatory cytokines (Tumor necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin-6) in both ischemic lobes, however, the up-regulation of these cytokines was more prominent in the ischemic lobes. In conclusion, selective warm I/R induces a substantial “sympathetic/bystander” effect on the non-ischemic lobes in terms of HMGB1 translocation and local cytokine production.