[Spironolactone inhibits hepatic sinusoid angiogenesis in rats with hepatic fibrosis]

To investigate the inhibitory effects of spironolactone against hepatic sinusoid angiogenesis in rats with hepatic fibrosis.

Twenty-four male Wistar rats were randomly divided into sham-operated group, bile duct ligation (BDL) group, and BDL+SP group in which the rats received daily spironolactone injection (20 mg/kg) the day after BDL. Four weeks after the operation, the rats were sacrificed for examination of liver histology using Masson staining and the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) mRNA in the liver using real-time quantitative PCR. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of von Willebrand factor (vWF) in the hepatic tissues.

Spironolactone significantly inhibited liver fibrogenesis in rats after BDL (METAVIR liver fibrosis scores 2.84∓0.44 vs 19.73∓3.54, P=0.00). Real-time PCR and immunohistochemistry showed that compared with BDL group, spironolactone treatment significantly inhibited the expression of VEGF-A mRNA (0.71∓0.12 vs 1.75∓0.15, P=0.00) and vWF (1.15∓0.09 vs 3.08∓0.17, P=0.00) in the liver. The expression of VEGF-A mRNA was highly correlated with the expression of vWF (r=0.890, P=0.000).

Spironolactone can inhibit hepatic sinusoid angiogenesis in rats with BDL-induced hepatic fibrosis by inhibiting the expression of VEGF-A.