Expression of macrophage inflammatory protein-1α in Kupffer cells following liver ischemia or reperfusion injury in rats

AIM： To explore the expression of macrophage inflammatory protein-1α （MIP-1α） in Kupffer cells （KCs） following liver ischemia/reperfusion injury IRI in rats. METHODS： Forty male SD rats were divided randomly into five groups. A model of partial warm ischemia/ reperfusion injury in the rat liver was established. KCs were isolated and incubated one hour, six hours, 12 h, and 24 h after the reperfusion. Tumor necrosis factor alpha （TNF-α） and interleukin-lbeta （IL-1β） in the supernatants were measured by ELISA. MIP-1α in KCs was detected by immunocytochemical and RT-PCR. RESULTS： No or few MIP-1α protein and mRNA were expressed in the KCs of the control group. Its expression in the IRI group had a significant increase after the reperfusion （P 〈 0.05）, which was contrary to the control group. CONCLUSION： The active behavior of the MIP-1α gene in KCs following liver ischemia/reperfusion injury is assumed to be one of the major causes for the hepatic ischemia/reperfusion injury.