Figure 1. Carbamazepine induces autophagy in hepatocytes and alleviates acute ethanol-induced liver steatosis and liver injury whereas chloroquine inhibits both.

(A–B). GFP-LC3 transgenic mice were treated with CBZ with or without pretreatment of CQ for 16 hours. GFP-LC3 puncta were quantified. (C–D) Primary hepatocytes were pre-incubated with adenoviral GFP-LC3 overnight and then cultured in complete medium (CM), or in EBSS, or in CM with CBZ, rapamycin or 3-MA for 6 hours followed by fluorescence microscopy for LC3 dot formation (C) or for 16 hours for long-lived protein degradation assay (D). (E). Wild type mice were given ethanol (E) with or without rapamycin, or CBZ. Mice were sacrificed 16 hours later and the numbers of Bodipy-positive LDs were quantified. (F–H). The levels of hepatic (F) and plasma (G) TG, and plasma ALT (H) were measured. *: p<0.01 (n=3–7).