Stephen Beach
Liver disease Patients waiting for a transplant are offered fresh hope.
A new mechanism for rapid liver regeneration has been discovered, caused by a chemical messenger called glutamic acid.
Researcher of Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO) In Madrid, we discovered that the mouse process begins just minutes after acute liver damage has occurred.
They say they say their findings Journal NatureIncludes a diet rich in the amino acid glutamic acid, opening up the means of future treatment of serious liver damage.
The Spanish team said glutamate supplements can promote liver regeneration and can benefit patients in recovery after awaiting liver surgery or transplants.
The researchers explained that activating liver regeneration is “important” in treating diseases that involve severe liver damage.
These diseases are becoming more and more frequent and are associated with poor eating habits and alcohol consumption.
The liver is an important organ and is essential for digestion, metabolism and removal of toxins.
It has the unique ability, regeneration, that allows these cells to replace hepatocytes damaged by highly toxins that are removed.
However, the liver stops regeneration in cases of diseases with chronic liver damage such as cirrhosis.
Therefore, learning to activate liver regeneration is a top priority that primarily benefits patients with severe liver damage, and also removes tumors from patients who have a part of the liver to cut the liver.
The CNIO team says that previously unknown mechanisms of liver regeneration are triggered very quickly, and glutamic acid plays a key role just minutes after acute liver damage occurs.
Senior research author Dr. Nabil Dajudar said: “Unhealthy diet and lifestyle can affect liver regeneration.
“Our results explain the basic and universal mechanisms that allow the liver to regenerate after acute injury.
“These results may also help improve liver regeneration ability in patients with severe liver damage, such as cirrhosis, or in patients who have undergone partial surgery to remove tumors.”
Liver regeneration was known to occur through the proliferation of hepatocytes, known as hepatocytes.
However, the molecular mechanisms involved were not fully understood.
The new discoveries describe communication between the two different organs, including the immune system, the liver and bone marrow.
The results show that the liver and bone marrow are interconnected by glutamic acid.
After acute liver damage, hepatocytes, called hepatocytes, produce glutamate and send it into the bloodstream.
Through the blood, glutamic acid reaches the bone marrow inside the bone, where it activates a type of monocyte, a cell in the immune system.
The researchers then explained that monocytes migrate to the liver and become macrophages, or immune cells, along the way.
Dr. Djouder said: “The presence of glutamate reprograms the metabolism of macrophages, and thus begins to secrete growth factors that lead to increased hepatocyte production.
“In other words, a series of events allows glutamate to trigger liver regeneration in just a few minutes through changes in macrophage metabolism.”
He described it as “a new, complex and original perspective on how the liver stimulates its own regeneration.”
The experiments were performed in animal models, but the results have been tested with a bioinformatics tool using a database of mouse and human hepatocytes.
Dr. Djouder said: “Dietary glutamate supplementation may simply be recommended in the future after liver depletion and to reduce liver damage caused by cirrhosis.
Researcher María Del Mar Rigal, first author of the study, added that another goal of future research is “to further explore the possibility of using glutamate supplements in humans undergoing liver resection for tumor removal.”