Table 2.
Evaluation of Cholangiocyte Functional Activity
| Bile Flow (μl/min/kg body weight)
|
Bicarbonate secretion (μEq/min/kg body weight)
|
cAMP levels (fmol/100,000 cells)
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basal | Secretin | Basal | Secretin | Basal | Secretin | |
| NR | 72.8 (± 4.4) | 73.5 (± 5.3) | 1.9 (± 0.1) | 1.9 (± 0.2) | 14.2 (± 1.6) | 39.3* (± 3.4) |
| BDL | 94.1 (± 6.7) | 126.9* (± 9.3) | 3.3 (± 0.6) | 6.4* (± 0.8) | 39.0 (± 6.8) | 74.5* (± 6.7) |
| BDL + vagotomy | 90.1 (± 3.8) | 93.4 (± 8.9) | 3.3 (± 0.2) | 3.5 (± 0.1) | 39.4 (± 9.4) | 40.8 (± 4.5) |
| BDL + vagotomy + UDCA | 95.7 (± 3.7) | 128.1* (± 3.4) | 3.4 (± 0.1) | 5.8* (± 0.2) | 45.7 (± 3.5) | 67.3* (± 4.7) |
| BDL + vagotomy + UDCA + BAPTA/AM | 103.7 (± 9.1) | 114.3 (± 14.4) | 3.7 (± 0.3) | 3.9 (± 0.4) | 29.1 (± 5.4) | 32.8 (± 4.1) |
| BDL + vagotomy + UDCA + Gö6976 | 105.1 (± 10.4) | 105.9 (± 2.5) | 3.8 (± 0.3) | 3.5 (± 0.2) | 25.1 (± 2.1) | 30.7 (± 6.9) |
| BDL + vagotomy + TUDCA | 112.9 (± 14.0) | 155.1* (± 8.6) | 3.9 (± 0.4) | 6.0* (± 0.5) | 30.4 (± 2.9) | 51.7* (± 3.7) |
| BDL + vagotomy + TUDCA + BAPTA/AM | 99.7 (± 12.3) | 105.7 (± 15.7) | 4.1 (± 0.2) | 3.8 (± 0.3) | 27.0 (± 1.5) | 27.1 (± 1.2) |
| BDL + vagotomy + TUDCA + Gö6976 | 115.5 (± 15.8) | 120.3 (± 14.6) | 4.4 (± 0.4) | 4.6 (± 0.4) | 29.5 (± 2.9) | 27.9 (± 5.7) |
Cholangiocyte functional activity was measured as response to secretin of the bile flow and bicarbonate secretion in vivo and the in vitro response to secretin of the intracellular cAMP synthesis in cholangiocytes isolated from animals of the different experimental groups. The protective effects of UDCA and TUDCA on cholangiocyte functional activity, that is lost when the BDL rat is subjected to vagotomy, is dependent on the Ca2+-PKC-α signaling, since they were no longer evident in animals injected with either BAPTA/AM or Gö6976. Data are mean ± SEM of six experiments.
*
P < 0.05 versus the corresponding basal value.