Abstract
Hepatocyte tight junctions (TJ) constituted blood-biliary barrier is the most important hepatic barrier for separating bile from the bloodstream, disruption or dysfunction of TJ barrier is involved in hepatobiliary manifestations of colitis, but the underlying mechanism is still not clear. This study aims to investigate the effect and underlying mechanism of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) on hepatic TJ protein expression in blood-biliary barrier and identify its role in the pathogenesis of acute colitis-related cholestasis. Acute colitis rat model was induced by trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS) intra-colonic administration. TJs expression of blood-biliary barrier was tested in colitis rats, the serum TNF-α level was also determined in order to elucidate the correlation of TNF-α and TJs. HepaRG cells were used to investigate the effect of TNF-α on TJs, and the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B (PI3K/AKT) signaling pathway were also evaluated in rats and TNF-α treated HepaRG cells. Acute colitis was induced in rats at 5 d post TNBS, which is accompanied with cholestasis-like alteration. Serum TNF-α level was increased in colitis rats and positively correlated with the alteration of total bile acids and bilirubin, marked decrease in TJs was found in TNF-α treated HepaRG cells and the rats, down-regulated PI3K/AKT signaling pathway were also identified in TNF-α treated HepaRG cells and the rats. The study concluded that serum TNF-α mediated the down-regulation of PI3K/AKT signaling pathway, which contributed to the reduction of TJ protein expression in acute colitis-related intrahepatic cholestasis. These findings suggest that TNF-α plays an important role in the pathogenesis of intrahepatic cholestasis of colitis.