SIRT1 Modulators in Experimentally Induced Liver Injury

This article is directed at highlighting the involvement of the endogenous stress sensor SIRT1 (silent information regulator T1) as a possible factor involved in hepatoprotection. The selective SIRT1 modulators whether activators (STACs) or inhibitors are being tried experimentally and clinically. We discuss the modulation of SIRT1 on cytoprotection or even cytotoxicity in the liver chemically injured by hepatotoxic agents in rats, to shed light on the crosstalk between SIRT1 and its modulators. A combination of D-galactosamine and lipopolysaccharide (D-GalN/LPS) downregulated SIRT1 expression, while SIRT1 activators, SRT1720, resveratrol, and quercetin, upregulated SIRT1 and alleviated D-GalN/LPS-induced acute hepatotoxicity. Liver injury markers exhibited an inverse relationship with SIRT1 expression. However, under subchronic hepatotoxicity, quercetin decreased the significant increase in SIRT1 expression to lower levels which are still higher than normal ones and mitigated the liver-damaging effects of carbon tetrachloride. Each of these STACs was hepatoprotective and returned the conventional antioxidant enzymes to the baseline. Polyphenols tend to fine-tune SIRT1 expression towards normal in the liver of intoxicated rats in both acute and subchronic studies. Together, all these events give an impression that the cytoprotective effects of SIRT1 are exhibited within a definite range of expression. The catalytic activity of SIRT1 is important in the hepatoprotective effects of polyphenols where SIRT1 inhibitors block and the allosteric SIRT1 activators mimic the hepatoprotective effects of polyphenols. Our findings indicate that the pharmacologic modulation of SIRT1 could represent both an important move in alleviating hepatic insults and a future major step in the treatment of xenobiotic-induced hepatotoxicity.