An Established Method of Diethylnitrosamine-induced Hepatocellular Carcinomas Rats Model Promoted by Microcystins-LR

Abstract: Animal models of hepatocellular carcinomas can be helpful to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of hepatocellular carcinomas. Diethylnitrosamine (DEN) is a well known potent hepatocarcinogenic agent and is usually used to induce liver cancer in animal models. Microcystin-LR (MCLR) is a cyclic heptapeptide toxin produced by cyanobacteria. MC-LR has the proficiency of cancer promotion by its chronic efficiency on human at low concentrations. In our study， hepatocellular carcinomas model of rats were induced by DEN and different concentrations of MC-LR through intraperitoneal injection. A series of changes in rat livers were observed with morphological and pathological techniques. At the same time， the expression levels of GST-Pi were detected by Western blot. The results showed that the procession of hepato-carcinogenesis in these models included three stages-hepatic toxic lesion: hepatic proliferation， hepatic cirrhosis and hepatic carcinogenesis. Particularly， the efficiency of tumor promotion with DEN and 10 μg/kg MC-LR was better than other groups. We have found a new way to establish hepatocellular carcinomas model in rats.

CSTR: 32200.14.cjcb.2012.04.0010