Sinusoidal Endothelial Cell Injury And The Role Of ICAM-1 In Obstructive Jaundice

Aims. Obstructive jaundice is associated with high morbility and operation mortality. While hepatic parenchymal injury has been defined in obstructive jaundice, the pathgenesis of hepatic sinusoidal endolhelial cell injury in obstructive jaundice is unclear. The aims of this study were to investigate hepatic sinusoidal endothelial cell injury in obstructive jaundice and the expression of intercellular adhesion molecule-1, as well as its role in the injury.Methods. Male Wistar 60 rats underwent ligation and division of the common bile duct (obstructive jaundice group) or sham operation(sham group) randomly. Each group was divided to five small groups according to the days after operation. Animals were sacrificed ,tissues and blood samples were processed at 1,3,7,14,21 days after operation, then serum hyaluronic acid levels were examined by using radio-immunity , the expression of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 in liver tissues were demonstrated by means of immunohistochemistry and other markers were also measured at intervals up to 21 days after surgery.Results. Serum alanine aminotransferase, total bilirubin, hyaluronic acid levels are higher in experiment groups than in control groups. Neutrophil cells infiltration in liver tissues shows significant differences between the two groups after 3 days of operation. Strong ICAM-1 expression was detected in experiment groups. They expressed in the sinusoidal endothelial cells and other sinusoidal lining cells, such as Kupffer cells, but faint ICAM-1 expression was found in control groups.Conclusions. Our findings suggest that obstructive jaundice impairs sinusoidal endothelial cells and hepatic sinusoidal endothelial cell damage may be in associated with the interaction between sinusoidal endothelial cells and neutrophil cells mediated by ICAM-1.