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[Expression of collagen XVIII mRNA in rat liver fibrosis]
1Liver Research Center, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital University of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100050, China.
Objective:
To measure and study quantitatively the collagen XVIII mRNA in normal and fibrotic rat livers.
Methods:
We used ribonuclease protection assay to investigate the collagen XVIII mRNA expression in rat liver fibrosis induced by complete bile duct occlusion (BDO). The expression level of procollagen 1 (XVIII) mRNA was compared with that of procollagen 1 (I) and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 1 (TIMP1).
Results:
mRNA levels of procollagen and TIMP 1 increased 20- and 4-fold in BDO rat livers, respectively. In contrast, hepatic procollagen 1 mRNA level increased only 1.8-fold in fibrotic rat livers.
Conclusion:
C XVIII mRNA is upregulated slightly in liver fibrosis, which is probably correlated with the fact that CXVIII is mainly expressed by hepatocytes.