Homogeneous distribution of phosphofructokinase in the rat liver acinus: a quantitative histochemical study

Dynamic Metabolic Zonation of the Hepatic Glucose Metabolism Is Accomplished by Sinusoidal Plasma Gradients of Nutrients and Hormones

Being the central metabolic organ of vertebrates, the liver possesses the largest repertoire of metabolic enzymes among all tissues and organs. Almost all metabolic pathways are resident in the parenchymal cell, hepatocyte, but the pathway capacities may largely differ depending on the localization of hepatocytes within the liver acinus-a phenomenon that is commonly referred to as metabolic zonation. Metabolic zonation is rather dynamic since gene expression patterns of metabolic enzymes may change in response to nutrition, drugs, hormones and pathological states of the liver (e.g., fibrosis and inflammation). This fact has to be ultimately taken into account in mathematical models aiming at the prediction of metabolic liver functions in different physiological and pathological settings. Here we present a spatially resolved kinetic tissue model of hepatic glucose metabolism which includes zone-specific temporal changes of enzyme abundances which are driven by concentration gradients of nutrients, hormones and oxygen along the hepatic sinusoids. As key modulators of enzyme expression we included oxygen, glucose and the hormones insulin and glucagon which also control enzyme activities by cAMP-dependent reversible phosphorylation. Starting with an initially non-zonated model using plasma profiles under fed, fasted and diabetic conditions, zonal patterns of glycolytic and gluconeogenetic enzymes as well as glucose uptake and release rates are created as an emergent property. We show that mechanisms controlling the adaptation of enzyme abundances to varying external conditions necessarily lead to the zonation of hepatic carbohydrate metabolism. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first kinetic tissue model which takes into account in a semi-mechanistic way all relevant levels of enzyme regulation.

A multiscale modelling approach to assess the impact of metabolic zonation and microperfusion on the hepatic carbohydrate metabolism

The capacity of the liver to convert the metabolic input received from the incoming portal and arterial blood into the metabolic output of the outgoing venous blood has three major determinants: The intra-hepatic blood flow, the transport of metabolites between blood vessels (sinusoids) and hepatocytes and the metabolic capacity of hepatocytes. These determinants are not constant across the organ: Even in the normal organ, but much more pronounced in the fibrotic and cirrhotic liver, regional variability of the capillary blood pressure, tissue architecture and the expression level of metabolic enzymes (zonation) have been reported. Understanding how this variability may affect the regional metabolic capacity of the liver is important for the interpretation of functional liver tests and planning of pharmacological and surgical interventions. Here we present a mathematical model of the sinusoidal tissue unit (STU) that is composed of a single sinusoid surrounded by the space of Disse and a monolayer of hepatocytes. The total metabolic output of the liver (arterio-venous glucose difference) is obtained by integration across the metabolic output of a representative number of STUs. Application of the model to the hepatic glucose metabolism provided the following insights: (i) At portal glucose concentrations between 6–8 mM, an intra-sinusoidal glucose cycle may occur which is constituted by glucose producing periportal hepatocytes and glucose consuming pericentral hepatocytes, (ii) Regional variability of hepatic blood flow is higher than the corresponding regional variability of the metabolic output, (iii) a spatially resolved metabolic functiogram of the liver is constructed. Variations of tissue parameters are equally important as variations of enzyme activities for the control of the arterio-venous glucose difference.

Glucose homeostasis is one of the central liver functions. The liver extracts glucose from the blood when plasma glucose levels are high and produces glucose when plasma glucose levels are low. To fulfill this function the liver is organized in smallest functional units, the sinusoidal tissue units (STUs). These STUs consist of a single sinusoid surrounded by linear arranged hepatocytes. Liver zonation describes the spatial separation of metabolic pathways along the STUs. As blood flows through the sinusoid the plasma nutrient and hormone composition changes and in conjunction with the heterogeneous endowment of metabolic enzymes this leads to big differences in the metabolic performance of hepatocytes depending on their position within the sinusoid. This makes liver zonation and blood flow two central determinants for the functional output of the liver. In this work we present a tissue model of hepatic carbohydrate metabolism that combines liver zonation and microperfusion within the STU. We show that structural properties, enzymatic properties and regional bloodflow are equally important for the understanding of liver functionality. With our work we provide a true multi-scale model bridging the scale from the cellular to the tissue level.

Histochemical detection of glycogen phosphorylase activity as parameter for early ischemic damage in rat heart

In the present study we have investigated whether enzyme histochemical parameters can be applied to detect early ischemic damage in rat heart after ischemia without restoration of the blood flow. Ischemia was induced by incubating heart fragments for 0, 10, 20, 30, 60, 120 and 240 min at 37 degrees C. The activity and localization of the following enzymes was studied in unfixed cryostat sections using quantitative histochemical methods: lactate dehydrogenase, creatine kinase, succinate dehydrogenase, phosphofructokinase, acid phosphatase, 5'-nucleotidase and glycogen phosphorylase. Moreover, the ultrastructure of the tissue was studied with special attention to the appearance of flocculent densities in mitochondria, which can be seen as a sign of irreversible cell damage. It was shown that glycogen phosphorylase activity in rat heart decreased after short periods (30 min) of in vitro ischemia, whereas all other enzymes studied were not decreased up to 240 min, with the exception of lactate dehydrogenase and phosphofructokinase activities which were diminished only at 240 and 120 min of ischemia, respectively. Some reaction product was found after incubating for 5'-nucleotidase activity in the absence of substrate, indicating the presence of endogenous substrate(s). This endogenous substrate disappeared from the myocytes after 20 min of ischemia. It is assumed that AMP and/or other phosphate-containing compounds play an essential role in the activation of glycogen phosphorylase. Significant reduction of glycogen phosphorylase activity is correlated with the irreversible stage of damage of myocytes as judged from the ultrastructure.