Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 10, 2026

A Mouse Model of Chronic Liver Fibrosis for the Study of Biliary Atresia
Published on: February 3, 2023
NF-kappaB related abnormal hyper-expression of iNOS and NO correlates with the inflammation procedure in biliary
Lei Huang1, Xin-Min Si, Jie-Xiong Feng
1Department of Pediatric Surgery, Nanjing Children's Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China. surgeonhuang@126.com
Objective:
To study the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and its related regulators in biliary atresia (BA) livers and exlpore their relationships with the inflammation pathway in BA livers.
Method:
The iNOS expression in livers of 38 cases of BA children, 15 cases of neonatal cholestasis (NC) children, and 18 cases of normal control were, respectively, examined and total nitric oxide (NO) metabolites concentration of all samples were calculated by a colorimetric method based on Griess reaction. The TdT-mediated dupt biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL) method was used to label the apoptotic bile duct epithelial cells and hepatocytes. The western blotting and immunohistochemistry methods to semi-quantitatively analyze the nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) expression of each group were also used.
Results:
The iNOS expression intensity and total NO metabolites concentration of BA group (0.30 +/- 0.08, 90.40 +/- 12.46 micromol/L) were significantly higher than those of NC and normal control groups, P < 0.01. Correlation analysis showed a strong positive correlation between the serum AST level (152.76 +/- 29.59 U/L) and total NO metabolites concentration in BA group. Compared with the NC (32.47 +/- 5.55) and normal control (20.72 +/- 5.63) groups, a significantly higher apoptosis rate of intrahepatic bile duct epithelial cells was found in BA group (54.00 +/- 11.67) that tightly correlated with the iNOS intensity (r = 0.99, P < 0.01). The NF-kappaB intensity of BA group was also significantly higher than that of NC and normal control groups and had a strong positive correlation with the iNOS intensity (r = 0.97, P < 0.01).
Conclusion:
The abnormal hyper-expression of iNOS may play an important role in mediating the inflammation procedure in BA livers. This change perhaps has some relationship with the high expression of NF-kappaB and NO. These regulators can up-regulate the apoptosis of bile duct epithelial cells in BA livers and cause the damage to liver tissues.
Related Concept Videos
NF-κB-dependent Signaling Pathway
NF-κB-dependent Signaling Mechanism
The heterodimer of NF-κB...
Cirrhosis II: Pathophysiology
Chronic Bowel Disorders: Introduction
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a common disorder affecting the gastrointestinal tract. The distinctive feature is recurrent abdominal pain associated with altered bowel movements, manifesting as constipation, diarrhea, or fluctuating between both. The...
Inflammatory Bowel Disease I: Ulcerative Colitis
Inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD, encompasses a group of disorders characterized by chronic inflammation or ulceration of the gastrointestinal tract.
Risk Factors
The exact cause of IBD remains unclear, although it is believed to be due to a mix of genetic, environmental, microbial, and immune factors. Genetic factors are significant in determining susceptibility to IBD, with family history being a critical risk factor. Individuals with a first-degree relative who has IBD are at...
Cirrhosis I: Introduction
Inflammatory Bowel Disease III: Crohn's Disease

