Expression of Transferrin, Transferrin Receptor2 and Hephaestin genes in the models of liver injury

Iron is vital for almost every organism by participating in a wide variety of metabolic processes and its tight regulation is an important aspect of life of the cell. Tf, TfR2 and hephaestin are the genes involved in the transport and metabolism of body iron. We used different rat models to observe the hepatic changes in the expression of these genes by damaging noxae: CCl₄ administration and Partial hepatectomy (PH). Total liver RNA was isolated, reverse transcribed and studied by real time PCR. Tf expression was downregulated to 0.44 fold (24h; P=0.004**), TfR2 to 0.52 fold (12h; P=0.137) and Heph to 0.43 fold (12h; P=0.0154*) in the model of acute CCl₄ liver injury. In case of PH induced liver injury the expression of Tf was downregulated to 0.4 fold (24h; P=0.127), TfR2 to 0.5 fold (24h; P=0.0046**) and Heph to 0.2 fold (24h; P=0.021*). From this data we can conclude that the transport of iron is restricted during inflammation or injury and this is achieved by limiting the availability of the iron transport and metabolism machinery.

CCl4 - Heph - PH - Tf - TfR2