Deficiency of leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 aggravates thioacetamide-induced acute liver failure and hepatic encephalopathy in mice

Background Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is closely associated with inflammatory responses. However, as a crucial regulator of the immune and inflammatory responses, the role of leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) in the pathogenesis of HE remains unraveled. Herein, we investigated this issue in thioacetamide (TAA)-induced HE following acute liver failure (ALF). Methods TAA-induced HE mouse models of LRRK2 wild type (WT), LRRK2 G2019S mutation ( Lrrk2 G2019S ) and LRRK2 knockout (Lrrk2 −/− ) were established. A battery of neurobehavioral experiments was conducted. The biochemical indexes and pro-inflammatory cytokines were detected. The prefrontal cortex (PFC), striatum (STR), hippocampus (HIP), and liver were examined by pathology and electron microscopy. The changes of autophagy-lysosomal pathway and activity of critical Rab GTPases were analyzed. Results The Lrrk2 −/− -HE model reported a significantly lower survival rate than the other two models (24% vs. 48%, respectively, p < 0.05), with no difference found between the WT-HE and Lrrk2 G2019S -HE groups. Compared with the other groups, after the TAA injection, the Lrrk2 −/− group displayed a significant increase in ammonium and pro-inflammatory cytokines, aggravated hepatic inflammation/necrosis, decreased autophagy, and abnormal phosphorylation of lysosomal Rab10. All three models reported microglial activation, neuronal loss, disordered vesicle transmission, and damaged myelin structure. The Lrrk2 −/− -HE mice presented no severer neuronal injury than the other genotypes. Conclusions LRRK2 deficiency may exacerbate TAA-induced ALF and HE in mice, in which inflammatory response is evident in the brain and aggravated in the liver. These novel findings indicate a need of sufficient clinical awareness of the adverse effects of LRRK2 inhibitors on the liver.