Oxytocin promotes hepatic regeneration in elderly mice

Dan Luo; Bin Jin; Xiangyu Zhai; Jing Li; Chuanyong Liu; Wei Guo; Jingxin Li

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2021.102125

Oxytocin promotes hepatic regeneration in elderly mice

iScience. 2021 Feb 2;24(2):102125. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102125. eCollection 2021 Feb 19.

Authors

Dan Luo¹, Bin Jin², Xiangyu Zhai², Jing Li³, Chuanyong Liu¹, Wei Guo², Jingxin Li¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, China.
² Department of general surgery, Qilu hospital of Shandong University, Jinan 250012, China.
³ Department of Pathology, Central Hospital of Zibo, Zibo 255036, China.

Abstract

Liver aging impairs the ability of hepatocyte regeneration. Recent studies have found that oxytocin (OT) plays an important role in promoting tissue repair and maintaining differentiation and regeneration of stem cells. Here, we reported that OT receptors, which are specifically located in hepatocytes, decrease with aging in human and mice. Interestingly, the level of serum OT also decline with age. Notably, OT promotes hepatocyte regeneration only in aged mice but not in young mice in vitro and in vivo. Further studies reveal that OT promotes autophagy in either AML12 mouse hepatocytes or aged mice after partial hepatectomy or with CCl4-induced acute liver injury. In conclusion, OT promotes liver regeneration, especially in aged mice, which may be achieved by promoting autophagy. All these results support the possibility of OT and its analog being a potent anti-aging drug and promote liver rejuvenation.

Keywords: age; endocrinology; molecular biology; molecular physiology.