The expression of BCL-2 family of genes during liver regeneration

Abstract

Hepatic regeneration is a process that includes cellular proliferation and cellular death. Apoptosis is the main tool for the organism to control the death in order to prevent the destruction of the tissues, and maintain the homeostasis. The main regulators of apoptotic machinery are the Bcl-2 family proteins, which act mainly on mitochondrial control of death pathway. We used both 40% and 70% partial hepatectomy groups, and investigated the expression patterns of bcl-2 family members (bcl-2, bcl-xL, bcl-w, bax, bak, bid, and mtd) in transcript levels within a time spectrum that extends to 14 days, which is required for the completion of the regeneration process. We used semi-quantitative PCR technique, and compared the results with the sham operation groups as a negative control. With this comparison, we were able to understand the regeneration-induced changes in transcript levels of the genes studied. Our results demonstrated that, the regeneration process had a time-dependent and tight regulation in the 70% partial hepatectomy groups, whereas this was not the case for 40%. However, we also found that surgery itself caused changes in the expression of these genes. Therefore, we think that these changes might not only due to regeneration, but also due to surgery.