Diazoxide attenuates ischemia/reperfusion injury via upregulation of heme oxygenase-1 after liver transplantation in rats

Figure 1 Experimental protocol. DZ: Diazoxide; siRNA: Small interfering RNA.

Figure 2 Serum alanine aminotransferase and aspartate transaminase levels after reperfusion. ^aP < 0.05 vs ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) group, ^bP < 0.01 vs diazoxide (DZ) group. ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; AST: Aspartate transaminase.

Figure 3 Liver heme oxygenase-1 mRNA and protein levels at 6 h after transplantation. ^aP < 0.05 vs ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) group, ^bP < 0.01 vs diazoxide (DZ) group. A: Liver heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) mRNA expression; B: Liver HO-1 protein levels.

Figure 4 Liver histology and ultrastructural changes of hepatocytes. A: Ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) treated livers showed vacuolization, nuclear fragmentation, sinusoidal congestion, and hepatocyte necrosis. However, histological tissue damage was aggravated in the small interfering RNA (siRNA) and siRNA + diazoxide (DZ) groups. In contrast, DZ treatment relieved liver damage (HE, × 400); B: The mitochondria and the smooth endoplasmic reticulum were dilated and even destroyed, and the mitochondrial cristae were disorganized in I/R treated hepatocytes.

Figure 5 Serum cytokine levels (interleuki-6/ tumor necrosis factor-α) were measured. ^aP < 0.05 vs ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) group, ^bP < 0.01 vs diazoxide (DZ) group. IL-6: Interleukin-6; TNF-α: Tumor necrosis factor-α.