3C). Because the GAS6 serum concentration increases after I/R, we evaluated whether ischemia stimulates GAS6 signaling through activation of TAM receptors. First, GAS6 protein

levels increased XL184 mw in liver extracts from I/R-exposed WT animals (Fig. 3D), and as expected, these changes were undetectable in GAS6-deficient mice. Axl and Mer are TAM receptors located in liver cells that are phosphorylated after GAS6 binding. Therefore, we decided to verify their participation in I/R-induced TAM signaling. Although no changes in Axl activation were evident after I/R, an increase in Mer phosphorylation was detected in WT mice exposed to I/R, but this response was blunted in GAS6-KO mice (Fig. 3D). Hence, our data indicate that GAS6 levels increase in the liver after I/R and induce Mer-dependent signaling and AKT phosphorylation independently of NF-κB activation. The lack of these events

in GAS6-KO mice may contribute to their susceptibility to hepatic I/R injury. In light of the previous findings, we extended the in vivo observations to cultured hepatocytes and examined whether the exogenous administration of GAS6 directly regulates AKT see more phosphorylation and hypoxia susceptibility. First, we analyzed NF-κB activation after the addition of preconditioned media from GAS6-overexpressing HEK293 cells to primary mouse hepatocytes. GAS6 supplementation did not change the p65 nuclear levels in cultured mouse hepatocytes (Fig. 4A). However, a marked increase in AKT phosphorylation was detected after the addition of a GAS6-containing medium. As soon as 15 minutes after the administration of the GAS6 conditioned medium, primary hepatocytes displayed robust AKT phosphorylation (Fig. 4B). Moreover, in accordance with the in vivo findings, no changes in JNK activation were observed after hepatocyte incubation with the conditioned medium containing GAS6 (Fig. 4C). These

finding confirm that parenchymal cells are targets of GAS6, which results 上海皓元医药股份有限公司 in AKT phosphorylation regardless of p65 nuclear translocation, suggesting that a similar mechanism is occurring in vivo after I/R. To verify that the signaling effects induced by GAS6 administration could have a protective effect against oxygen deprivation, primary mouse hepatocytes exposed to hypoxia (1% O2) were preincubated with a conditioned medium with or without GAS6. First, we verified that hypoxia activated hypoxia inducible factor 1 alpha, a known target of oxygen deprivation. In agreement with previous findings,24 the nuclear levels of hypoxia inducible factor 1 alpha increased in hepatocytes cultured with 1% O2 (not shown). Interestingly, GAS6 supplementation protected cultured hepatocytes against hypoxia-induced cell death (survival of 25% ± 4% in control cells versus 40% ± 5% in GAS6-supplemented cells; Fig. 4D).