Relationship Between Hepatocytes Apoptosis And

Objective: To study the relationship between hepatocytes apoptosis and the hepatopathy in the liver of STZ-induced diabetic tupaia (tree shrew). Method: After fasting blood glucose(FBG), body weight were detected.and excluded the infection of hepatitis B virus(all the HbsAg, HbeAg, Anti-HbsAb, Anti-HbeAb, Anti-HBcAb were negative), 38 tupaia were selected to carry the experiment .Sorted by body weight and then 38 tupaia were classified randomly into normal control group (n=12) and experimental group (n=26) . Normal control group were i.v with acided normal saline, and experimental group were i.v with STZ at the dosage of 120mg/kg. In experimental group ,the tupaia with FBG≥11.1 mmol/L were classified into diabetes millitus (DM) group (9 tupaia), those with FBG<11.1 mmol/L were classified into not DM model group (11 tupaia), the other 8 (2 of normal control group,6 of experimental group) tupaia died during the experiment were kicked out. All FBG and the body weigh before(0 week) and after 2,4 and 6 week of STZ treatment were detected and recorded respectively. ALT(Alanine aminotransferase),AST(Aspartic Acid aminotransferase) were detected respectively before and at the end of the experiment(6 week). All tupaia were executed after anesthetized at the 6th week of the. Liver and other organs were preserved, weighted the wet weight of liver, then calculated the liver weight index. The preserved liver tissue were performed routine HE ,PAS,D-PAS and Masson stain, their pathologic changes were observed with light microscope ；6μm slides were prepared for detecting cell apoptosis in situ with TUNEL technology. Results: In normal control group and not DM model group the changes of FBG, ALT, AST have no statistical significance(p>0.05), A little liver histological pathological damages were observed with light microscope. In DM group, FBG increased significantly but the changes of ALT and AST have no statistical significance (p>0.05). The liver weight index of DM group is significantly higher (p<0.05)than the other two groups. More and severer liver histological pathological damages were observed in DM group with light microscope, changes included: glycogen granules increasing in cytoplasm and fatty degeneration appeared in most animal; some tupaia observed glycogen holes in cell nuclear; some hepatocytes observed swelling ;and little acidophilic degeneration and portal area inflammation infiltration was oberved. Detecting cell apoptosis in situ with TUNEL technology observed that the apoptosis index (AI) of DM group is significantly lower. Conclusion:⒈Obvious diabetic hepatopathy were found in STZ-induced diabetes tupaia. ⒉The hepatocyte apoptosis is significantly lower in diabetes tupaia. ⒊ Hepatocyte apoptosis may has relationship with hepatomegaly and other hepatopathy of diabetes tupaia.