Arginine-induced autophagy for alleviating liver injury after liver resection

Abstract

Objective To discuss the preoperative application of arginine for inducing autophagy to alleviate postoperative liver damage in patients undergoing liver resection. Methods Out of 90 hepatocellular carcinoma （HCC） patients treated with liver resection in Xuzhou Central Hospital from January 2019 to December 2020, there were 30 patients with normal liver resection （control group） and 60 patients with preoperative application of arginine （experiment group）. In experiment group, continuous intravenous arginine infusion was given for 1 week in 30 cases （experiment group 1）, and intravenous infusion every other day was given in other 30 cases （experiment group 2）. Postoperative liver function was monitored, and western blot was used to detect changes in autophagy-related protein and apoptotic-related protein expressions. Length of hospital stay was recorded and compared. Results The values of liver function indicators in experiment groups were significantly lower than those in control group, and they were lower in experiment group 2 than those in experiment group 1（P＜0.05＝. The expressions of autophagy proteins in normal liver tissues of experiment group were higher than those in control group （P＜0.05＝, and there were no significant differences in them between experiment group 2 and experiment group 1（P＞0.05）. In experiment group, the expression of apoptosis protein in normal liver tissues was lower than that in control group, and it in experiment group 2 was superior to that in experiment group 1. HE staining showed that there were different degrees of liver cells necrosis and fatty degeneration in control group and experiment group, however, HE staining scores in experiment group 2 were lower than those in experiment group 1 and control group （P＜0.05＝. Length of hospital stay was （16.1±3.8） d in experiment group 1, （15.3±3.1） d in experiment group 2 and （18.0±2.8） d in control group （F=5.428, P＜0.01＝. The hospitalization time in two experiment groups were significantly shorter than that in control group （P＜0.05＝. Conclusion Preoperative application of arginine can induce the expression of autophagy protein, which can alleviate the liver injury in patients with liver resection to a certain degree. Moreover, the interval use of arginine before surgery shows better protective effect for liver function.

Keywords

• arginine
• hepatocellular carcinoma
• liver resection
• autophagy
• ischemia reperfusion injury