UC-MSCs induction of anti-apoptosis has been indicated to play protective roles in liver ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) model. However, the exact molecular mechanisms of UC-MSCs in hepatic I/R injury are still not very clear. The aim of the present study was to elucidate the molecular target of drug action of UC-MSCs prevented liver injury. Mice were subjected to 70% hepatic ischemia for 90 min followed by reperfusion and, subsequently, divided into two groups randomly, which were administrated in peripheral vein with either PBS control or UC-MSCs (10⁶/100[mu]l). Then, these mice were sacrified at different time-points. And the blood and liver samples were collected to assess liver injury. These results showed that UC-MSCs improved hepatic I/R injury significantly by alleviating hepatic apoptosis and necrosis, inflammatory responses and improving liver function. Further, we found that these UC-MSCs liver protection ability are attributed to enhanced autophagy. Mechanistically, we found that this increased autophagy effect is mediated via activating AMPK/mTOR/ULK1 signaling pathway by using UC-MSCs adding dorsoporphin, a AMPK inhibitor, to hepatic I/R injury. These results indicate that by enhancing autophagy, UC-MSCs-mediated activation of AMPK/mTOR/ULK1 signaling pathway could be a novel therapeutic strategy to treat hepatic I/R injury.

CITATION INFORMATION: Zheng J., Cai J., Chen L., Yao J., Zeng K., Li H., Zhang Y., Yang Y. Umbilical Cords-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells Ameliorates Hepatic Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury via Activating the AMPK-mTOR/ULK1 Signaling Pathway Enhanced Autophagy Am J Transplant. 2017;17 (suppl 3).

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