Cholestatic liver disease results increased production of reactive aldehydes and an atypical periportal hepatic antioxidant response.

Cholangiopathies such as primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) are chronic liver diseases characterized by increased cholestasis, biliary inflammation and oxidative stress. The objective of this study was to elucidate the impact of cholestatic injury on oxidative stress-related factors. Using hepatic tissue and whole cell liver extracts (LE) isolated from 11-week old C57BL/6J (WT) and Mdr2KO mice, inflammation and oxidative stress was assessed. Concurrently, specific targets of carbonylation were assessed in LE prepared from murine groups as well as from normal and human patients with end-stage PSC. Identified carbonylated proteins were further evaluated using bioinformatics analyses. Picrosirius red staining revealed extensive fibrosis in Mdr2KO liver, and fibrosis colocalized with increased periportal inflammatory cells and both acrolein and 4-HNE staining. Western blot analysis revealed elevated periportal expression of antioxidant proteins Cbr3, GSTμ, Prdx5, TrxR1 and HO-1 but not GCLC, GSTπ or catalase in the Mdr2KO group when compared to WT. From immunohistochemical analysis, increased periportal reactive aldehyde production colocalized with elevated staining of Cbr3, GSTμ and TrxR1 but surprisingly not with Nrf2. Mass spectrometric analysis revealed an increase in carbonylated proteins in the Mdr2KO and PSC groups compared to respective controls. Gene ontology and KEGG pathway analysis of carbonylated proteins revealed a propensity for increased carbonylation of proteins broadly involved in metabolic processes as well more specifically in Rab-mediated signal transduction, lysosomes and the large ribosomal subunit in human PSC. Western blot analysis of Rab-GTPase expression revealed no significant differences in Mdr2KO mice when compared to WT livers. In contrast, PSC tissue exhibited decreased levels of Rabs 4, 5 and increased abundance of Rabs 6 and 9a protein. Results herein reveal that cholestasis induces stage-dependent increases in periportal oxidative stress responses and protein carbonylation, potentially contributing to pathogenesis in Mdr2KO. Furthermore, during early stage cholestasis, there is cell-specific upregulation of some but not all, antioxidant proteins.