Blood brain barrier permeability in acute liver necrosis of mice

AIM: To study the permeability of the blood brain barrier (BBB) in a mouse model of acute liver necrosis. METHODS: Male Balb/c mice were divided into 4 groups. In one group, mice were intraperitoneal of lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 10 μg/kg) with D-galactosamine (GalN, 800 mg/kg) to induce acute liver necrosis. Other groups were controls. Serum levels of alanine transaminase (ALT) were determined and the liver tissues were fixed for histopathological analysis. The permeability of BBB in mice was investigated with Evans blue (EB). RESULTS: The serum levels of ALT were increased mildly in mice, which were administration of LPS or GalN alone. And no animals died. But the levels of ALT began to increase at 6 hours (41.89±14.57 μat/L), and reached a maximal level at 12 hours (170.30±16.13 μat/L) after injection with both LPS and GalN. Mice began to die at 6 hours, and at 9 hours after injection, the rate of lethality reached an extremely high level of 66.6%. The liver became massive or submassive necrosis. The concentration of EB in brain was significantly increased in ALF models compared with other groups. CONCLUSION: The permeability of BBB is increased in acute liver necrosis model. It may be the mechanism of the brain edema.