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- Title
Metformin Protects Against Acetaminophen Hepatotoxicity by Attenuation of Mitochondrial Oxidant Stress and Dysfunction.
- Authors
Kuo Du; Ramachandran, Anup; Weemhoff, James L.; Chavan, Hemantkumar; Yuchao Xie; Krishnamurthy, Partha; Jaeschke, Hartmut
- Abstract
Overdose of acetaminophen (APAP) causes severe liver injury and even acute liver failure in both mice and human. A recent study by Kim et al. (2015, Metformin ameliorates acetaminophen hepatotoxicity via Gadd45b-dependent regulation of JNK signaling in mice. J. Hepatol. 63, 75-82) showed that metformin, a first-line drug to treat type 2 diabetes mellitus, protected against APAP hepatotoxicity in mice. However, its exact protective mechanism has not been well clarified. To investigate this, C57BL/6J mice were treated with 400 mg/kg APAP and 350 mg/kg metformin was given 0.5h pre- or 2h post-APAP. Our data showed that pretreatment with metformin protected against APAP hepatotoxicity, as indicated by the over 80% reduction in plasma alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activities and significant decrease in centrilobular necrosis. Metabolic activation of APAP, as indicated by glutathione depletion and APAP-protein adducts formation, was also slightly inhibited. However, 2h post-treatment with metformin still reduced liver injury by 50%, without inhibition of adduct formation. Interestingly, neither pre- nor post-treatment of metformin inhibited c-jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) activation or its mitochondrial translocation. In contrast, APAP-induced mitochondrial oxidant stress and dysfunction were greatly attenuated in these mice. In addition, mice with 2 h post-treatment with metformin also showed significant inhibition of complex I activity, which may contribute to the decreased mitochondrial oxidant stress. Furthermore, the protection was reproduced in JNK activation-absent HepaRG cells treated with 20mM APAP followed by 0.5 or 1mM metformin 6h later, confirming JNK-independent protection mechanisms. Thus, metformin protects against APAP hepatotoxicity by attenuating the mitochondrial oxidant stress and subsequent mitochondrial dysfunction, and may be a potential therapeutic option for APAP overdose patients.
- Subjects
METFORMIN; ACETAMINOPHEN; DRUG toxicity; HEPATOTOXICOLOGY; MITOCHONDRIAL pathology; OXIDATION; PREVENTION
- Publication
Toxicological Sciences, 2016, Vol 154, Issue 2, p214
- ISSN
1096-6080
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1093/toxsci/kfw158