Open AccessRecent advances in liver preconditioning: Thyroid hormone, n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids and iron
Author(s) -
Virgínia Fernández,
Gladys Tapia,
Luis A. Videla
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
world journal of hepatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.913
H-Index - 55
ISSN - 1948-5182
DOI - 10.4254/wjh.v4.i4.119
Subject(s) - medicine , liver transplantation , thyroid , polyunsaturated fatty acid , hormone , ischemia , ischemic preconditioning , toxicity , fatty liver , bioinformatics , transplantation , pharmacology , endocrinology , biochemistry , fatty acid , disease , biology , chemistry
Liver preconditioning (PC), defined as an enhanced tolerance to injuring stimuli induced by previous specific maneuvers triggering beneficial functional and molecular changes, is of crucial importance in human liver transplantation and major hepatic resection. For these reasons, numerous PC strategies have been evaluated in experimental models of ischemia-reperfusion liver injury, which have not been transferred to clinical application due to side effects, toxicity and difficulties in implementation, with the exception of the controversial ischemic PC. In recent years, our group has undertaken the assessment of alternate experimental liver PC protocols that might have application in the clinical setting. These include thyroid hormone (T(3)), n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 LCPUFA), or iron, which suppressed liver damage due to the 1 h ischemia-20 h reperfusion protocol. T(3), n-3 LCPUFA and iron are hormetic agents that trigger biologically beneficial effects in the low-dose range, whose multifactorial mechanisms of action are discussed in the work.