Borude, Darren P. Wallace, Udayan Apte, Michele T. Pritchard Background: Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) can migrate to damaged liver and differentiate to myofibroblasts during liver fibrosis. Blocking BMSCs recruitment may be an effective strategy to stop or even reverse liver fibrosis. 15-Deoxy-Δ12,14-prostaglandin J2 (15d-PGJ2), a natural peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR-γ) ligand, has been implicated as a new antifibrotic click here compound with possible clinical applications. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of 15d-PGJ2 on BMSCs migration in CCl4-induced liver fibrosis in mice, and investigated the mechanism underlying this process.
Methods: Mice were leathally irradiated and received bone marrow CB-839 molecular weight transplants from enhanced green fluorescent protein transgenic mice. CCl4 was used to induce liver fibrosis with/without 15d-PGJ2 administration. CD166+ and CD44+ cells in liver tissue were analyzed by flow cytometric (FACS) and immunofluorescent staining to identify BMSCs.
The mRNA expressions of fibrotic markers, including procollagen α1 (I), procollagen α1 (III), and α-smooth muscle actin in liver tissue were examined by real-time RT-PCR. Moreover, hepatic collagen deposition was evaluated by morphometric analysis of Sirius red staining. The production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was examined by probe DCFH-DA. PPAR-γ distribution was analyzed by immunofluorescence and high content screening. Results: FACS and immunofluorescent staining analysis for CD166+ and CD44+ showed that the proportion of BMSCs
in CCl4-induced fibrotic mouse liver decreased markedly after 1 5d-PGJ2 administration. In vitro, 15d-PGJ2 (1-5 μM) caused a dose-dependent decrease in the migration of primary BMSCs. Neither PPAR-γ MCE agonists nor antagonist had an effect on BMSCs migration. However, 15d-PGJ2 promoted intracellular ROS production, and its inhibitory effect on BMSCs migration was abrogated by general ROS inhibitor, NAC, indicating 15d-PGJ2 reduced BMSCs migration through ROS formation, not PPAR-γ. Furthermore, we measured the mean of PPAR-γ fluorescence intensity in the nucleoplasmic and cytoplasmic area and analyzed the ratio of nucleus/cytoplasm by high content screening analysis, showing that 15d-PGJ2 did not alter PPAR-γ distribution. In vivo, 15d-PGJ2 administration ameliorated CCl4-induced hepatic fibrosis, as demonstrated by the reduced mRNA expression of fibrotic markers and decreased liver collagen deposition. Conclusion: 15d-PGJ2 significantly decreases recruitment of BMSCs toward the damaged liver, which involves ROS generation and independently of PPAR-γ. Therefore, 1 5d-PGJ2 may represent an effective antifibrotic target through inhibiting the homing of BMSCs.