Alleviation of ischemia/reperfusion injury in ob/ob mice by inhibiting UCP-2 expression in fatty liver

AIM: To investigate the protective effect of target suppression of uncoupling protein-2 (UCP-2) on ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in fatty liver in ob/ob mice. METHODS: Plasmids suppressing UCP-2 expression were constructed, and transfected into fatty liver cells cultured in vitro and the ob/ob mouse I/R injury model. Serum tumor necrosis factor (TNF)- alpha levels, UCP-2 mRNA expression, alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels in ob/ob mice were tested, and the pathological changes in fatty liver were observed in experimental and control groups. RESULTS: In ob/ob mouse I/R models, serum TNF-alpha levels were significantly higher than in normal controls. After the plasmids were transfected into the cultured cells and animal models, expression of UCP-2 mRNA was significantly reduced as compared with that in the control group (2(1.56+/-0.15) vs 2(-0.45+/-0.15), P<0.05). In ob/ob mouse models, in which expression of UCP-2 was suppressed, serum ALT levels were significantly lower than those of other groups, and pathological analysis revealed that injury of liver tissues was significantly alleviated. CONCLUSION: The target suppression of UCP-2 expression in fatty liver can alleviate the I/R injury in the ob/ob mice.