Glucagon-like peptide-2 exhibits protective effect on hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats

Abstract

Glucagon-like peptide-2 (GLP-2) has potent anti-inflammatory effects and protects against experimental ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in pulmonary, intestinal, and myocardial tissue. However, its protective abilities against I/R injury in the liver are unknown. We investigated the potential role of GLP-2 pretreatment on hepatic I/R injury in rats. A total of 24 rats were randomly divided into three groups (n = 8). The first group was the control group; the second group was the vehicle-treated hepatic ischemia/reperfusion (HIR, vehicle saline-treated) group; and the third group was the GLP-2 pretreated I/R (GLP2-IR) group. Each rat in the third group was intraperitoneally administered 5 µg GLP-2 for 5 d before the procedure. A portal triad was created to induce ischemia with a vascular atraumatic clamp. After 40 min, the clamp was released to initiate hepatic reperfusion for 6 h. Blood samples and tissue specimens from the liver were obtained. Alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and total bilirubin levels significantly increased in the saline-treated HIR group (P<0.001), whereas GLP-2 pretreatment significantly decreased their levels (P<0.01). Our data suggested that GLP-2 pretreatment may have a protective effect on liver I/R injury. However, dose-response studies are necessary to determine the most effective dose.

Keywords

ischemia/reperfusion / liver / glucagon-like peptide-2 / alanine aminotransferase

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Compliance with ethics guidelines

Naci Topaloğlu, Adem Küçük, Şule Yıldırım, Mustafa Tekin, Havva Erdem, and Mustafa Deniz declare that they have no conflict of interest. Animal care and all procedures were approved by the Animal Care Committee (13.02.2013/2013-02-01) of Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University. All institutional and national guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals were followed.

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