International Journal of Biochemistry Research & Review

Aims: The aim of this study is to explore the expression pattern of LIGHT and FGF-BP at the different stages of liver injury including acute injury, fibrosis and cirrhosis.

Study Design: Controlled experiment. 

Place and Duration of Study: Department of Biochemistry and Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of pharmacy (boys) Al-Azhar University, between February 2015 and June 2015.

Methodology: Four Sprague-Dawley rat groups were used for the experiment. Control group: 9 rats received corn oil; acute toxicity group: 10 rats were injected 50% CCl₄ in corn oil (4 ml/kg/IP/single dose); 6 weeks group: 12 rats were injected with 50% CCl₄ in corn oil (4 ml/kg/IP/twice weekly/6 weeks); 11 weeks group: 10 rats were injected with 50% CCl₄ in corn oil (4 ml/kg/IP/twice weekly/6 weeks) followed by 5 weeks of CCl₄ treatment with the half previous dose.

On the day after the last dose, rats were anesthetized with diethyl ether and blood samples were collected for measurement of blood chemistry. The animals were then euthanized, and tissue samples from the livers harvested and divided into 2 parts; one part was processed for standard histology and immunofluorescence techniques and the other was homogenized for oxidative status assessment.

Results: LIGHT and FGF-BP were shown to upregulate in chronic liver injury; while LIGHT was shown to upregulate in cirrhosis stage only, FGF-BP was shown to upregulate at fibrosis and cirrhosis stages. LIGHT was shown to express at the cytoplasm of the cells at cirrhotic nodule border. FGF-BP localization was shown to occur mainly at the extracellular matrix.

Conclusion: LIGHT and FGF-BP are of critical importance in pathogenesis of chronic liver injury so they may be used as a target for chronic liver injury therapy and/or candidate marker for diagnosis and/or prognosis of chronic liver injury.