Escobar E, Shimizu I, Mizobuchi Y, Yasuda M, Ito S
2nd Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Tokushima, Japan.
Tokushima J Exp Med. 1996 Dec;43(3-4):159-66.
Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), identified in ultrafiltered ascites and plasma from patients with cirrhosis, enhances the DNA synthesis in adult rat hepatocytes cultured at low cell density. This study was carried out to investigate the effect of ascites and plasma from patients with cirrhosis on liver-specific functions such as albumin synthesis in adult rat hepatocytes cultured at confluent-cell density. Ultrafiltered ascites from patients with cirrhosis and its ascitic protein, partially purified by fractionation with ammonium sulfate and gel filtration on Sephadex G-200, stimulated albumin synthesis in a dose-dependent manner in the presence of 10(-8), M dexamethasone. This effect was greater than that of 10(-7) M insulin and similar to that of 10(-7) M dexamethasone, but was additive with that of insulin plus dexamethasone. The molecular weight of the ascitic factor was estimated as 100,000 to 150,000, corresponding to that of HGF purified from cirrhotic ascites. Moreover, the partially purified ascitic factor markedly stimulated DNA and protein synthesis in hepatocytes. These findings suggest that the ascitic factor may act as HGF by stimulating hepatocyte DNA and albumin synthesis in a cell density-dependent manner.
肝细胞生长因子（HGF）是在肝硬化患者的超滤腹水和血浆中发现的，它能增强低密度培养的成年大鼠肝细胞中的DNA合成。本研究旨在探讨肝硬化患者的腹水和血浆对汇合细胞密度培养的成年大鼠肝细胞中肝脏特异性功能（如白蛋白合成）的影响。肝硬化患者的超滤腹水及其腹水蛋白经硫酸铵分级分离和Sephadex G - 200凝胶过滤部分纯化后，在存在10^(-8) M地塞米松的情况下以剂量依赖方式刺激白蛋白合成。这种作用大于10^(-7) M胰岛素的作用，与10^(-7) M地塞米松的作用相似，但与胰岛素加地塞米松的作用具有相加性。腹水因子的分子量估计为100,000至150,000，与从肝硬化腹水中纯化的HGF分子量相当。此外，部分纯化的腹水因子显著刺激肝细胞中的DNA和蛋白质合成。这些发现表明，腹水因子可能通过以细胞密度依赖的方式刺激肝细胞DNA和白蛋白合成而作为HGF发挥作用。
