J Korean Med Sci.  2001 Feb;16(1):75-82. 10.3346/jkms.2001.16.1.75.

Altered remodeling of nucleolar machineries in cultured hepatocytes treated with thioacetamide

• Jeong JS
• Han SY
• Kim YH
• Choi YC

• KMID: 1066498
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2001.16.1.75

Abstract

Thioacetamide (TA) is converted into a hyperacetylating agent which causes hepatic necrosis, regeneration, cirrhosis and cancerous transformation. One of the most characteristic toxicities of TA in rat is observed with a 50 mg/kg per day which induces nucleolar enlargement different from that in regenerating liver. From TA-treated liver, the nucleoli were isolated and characterized for an altered nucleolar signal transduction system. Immunochemistry revealed that the poisoned nucleoli had increased levels of both nucleolus specific proteins (nucleophosmin and nucleolin) and various signal molecules (CK2, Erk1/2, p38, protein kinases A and C, and cyclin A). Using flow cytometry, the nucleoli were found to be in G2-arrested nuclei. Manifestation of the nucleolar enlargement could be readily observed using an ex vivo hepatocyte culture. There were two types of nucleolar enlargement. One was observed in normal hepatocytes with light density of enlarged nucleoli. The other was in TA-treated hepatocytes with dense and compact density of enlarged nucleoli, which contained a 3 to 5-fold higher nudeophosmin content than the control. In vitro induction of nucleolar enlargement with TA was possible. As soon as the hepatocytes anchored on a collagen coat, exogeneous TA (higher than 1 microg/mL) could induce dense and compact nucleoli. However, when an exogeneous drug was added after monolayer formation (1 day), no drug-induced nucleolar enlargement was observed.

Keyword

Hepatocyte; Thioacetamide; Nucleolus Organizer Region; G2-Arrest; Regeneration

MeSH Terms

Animal
Cells, Cultured
Flow Cytometry
G2 Phase/drug effects
Hepatocytes/ultrastructure
Hepatocytes/drug effects*
Male
Nucleolus Organizer Region/physiology
Nucleolus Organizer Region/drug effects*
Rats
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Signal Transduction/drug effects
Thioacetamide/toxicity*