Bile Acid Transporters Are Expressed and Heterogeneously Distributed in Rat Bile Ducts
- Author:
Zhu lin LUO
1
;
Long CHENG
;
Tao WANG
;
Li jun TANG
;
Fu zhou TIAN
;
Ke XIANG
;
Lin CUI
Author Information
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords: Cholangiocyte; Bile acid transporter; Heterogeneity; Cholangiopathies
- MeSH: Animals; Bile Acids and Salts; Bile Ducts; Bile; Biliary Tract; Blotting, Western; Carrier Proteins; Digestion; Immunohistochemistry; Liver; Physiology; Population Characteristics; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
- From:Gut and Liver 2019;13(5):569-575
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
- Abstract: BACKGROUND/AIMS: Cholangiocytes are capable of reabsorbing bile salts from bile, but the pathophysiological significance of this process is unclear. To this end, we detected the expression and distribution of bile acid transport proteins in cholangiocytes from normal rat liver and analyzed the possible pathophysiological significance. METHODS: Bile duct tissues of Sprague-Dawley rats were isolated by enzymatic digestion and mechanical isolation, and then divided into large and small bile duct tissues. Immunohistochemistry, real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting were used to determine the expression of the apical sodium-dependent bile acid transporter (ASBT), ileal bile acid binding protein (IBABP), and basolateral organic solute transporter α (Ostα) in the biliary tract system of rats. Differences in the expression and distribution of these proteins were analyzed. RESULTS: In cholangiocytes, ASBT and IBABP were mainly expressed in cholangiocytes of the large bile ducts, in which the expression of both was significantly higher than that in the small ducts (p<0.05). Ostα was simultaneously expressed in cholangiocytes of both the large and small bile ducts, showing no significant difference in expression between the two groups of bile ducts (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Bile acid transporters are expressed and heterogeneously distributed in rat bile ducts, indicating that bile acid reabsorption by cholangiocytes might mainly occur in the large bile ducts. These findings may help explore the physiology of bile ducts and the pathogenesis of various cholangiopathies.
