(JP)Scientists find substance that helps livers (OF MICE) heal

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http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20020312wo71.htm

 

Scientists find substance that helps livers heal

 

Yomiuri Shimbun

12 March 2002

 

Researchers have identified a substance that

stimulates the recovery process of a damaged liver,

they said Monday.

 

When a liver sustains damage, the substance, which is

contained within the liver, sends an SOS signal to

bone marrow, said Assistant Prof. Yoshifumi Watanabe

at the Tokyo Institute of Technology.

 

The marrow then provides the liver with hematinic stem

cells, which grow into blood capillaries that patch up

damage in the liver, said Watanabe, who leads the

research team.

 

He said the discovery would help shed light on the

mechanism by which the liver heals itself and that it

would suggest new ways to treat hepatitis and other

liver diseases.

 

Details of the discovery will be presented on March

26, when the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan holds an

annual meeting in Chiba.

 

The substance in question is matrix metallprotease

(MMP). When a liver is damaged, MMP produces an enzyme

called MMP9 in the organ.

 

To research the liver's healing process, the research

team damaged the livers of mice with drugs. About six

hours later, the density of MMP9 soared in blood in

the liver, stimulating hematinic stem cells to move

from the marrow to the bloodstream.

 

When the mice were injected with an agent inhibiting

the activity of MMP9, however, no hematinic stem cells

appeared in the blood.

 

According to Watanabe, hematinic stem cells transform

themselves not only into red blood cells, but also

into endothelial cells, which constitute the inner

wall of blood vessels.

 

The team has concluded that hematinic stem cells

transform into blood capillaries in the liver after

being extracted by MMP9.

 

It speculates that hematinic stem cells may even turn

into liver cells.

 

Copyright 2002 The Yomiuri Shimbun

 

 

 

 

 

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