7, 8 Although a comprehensive list of HIF targets would be well beyond the scope of this article, several HIF targets that have been described in liver disease, as summarized in Table 1. Notably, the gene families represented include proinflammatory and profibrotic mediators, as well as genes involved in tumor progression.9-17 The physiological gradient of oxygen tension across the hepatic lobule has profound effects on the function of hepatic parenchymal and nonparenchymal cells. Periportal

hepatocytes LBH589 price and perivenous hepatocytes differ in their expression of many enzymes involved in glucose transport or metabolism, including insulin receptor, glucagon receptor, phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK1), L-type pyruvate kinase, and numerous others.18 Consequently, periportal hepatocytes tend to subspecialize in oxidative energy metabolism, glucose production, and synthesis of urea and bile, whereas perivenous hepatocytes are major sites of glucose uptake, glutamine formation, and xenobiotic metabolism.1 Physiological exposure of hepatocytes to varying levels of oxygen tension also

has consequences for the ability of hepatocytes to respond to hypoxic stress. Primary rat hepatocytes cultured in conditions approximating periportal oxygen tensions were able to survive transient anoxia with less cell death and cytokine release than hepatocytes cultured in conditions approximating perivenous oxygen selleck screening library tension. This suggests that in conditions of oxygen deprivation, A-769662 purchase such as increased hepatic metabolic demand, tissue ischemia, or other conditions, perivenous hepatocytes may be primed to increased injury when oxygen tension drops beneath a threshold level.19 Understanding and controlling ischemia reperfusion (IR) injury is a major goal of liver biology, particularly as IR injury often occurs in the context

of reperfusion of the transplanted liver and in emergencies with low arterial pressure. Through a variety of mechanisms, including the production of reactive oxygen species and inflammatory mediators, IR injury can cause major morbidity, including predisposing to graft failure. HIF1α induction has been described as an early event, preceding apoptosis, in IR injury.20 Hepatic IR has been described to up-regulate the HIF target VEGF.21 Unsurprisingly, HIF1α tends to accumulate during ischemia, but HIF1α DNA binding has been shown to decrease during reperfusion.22 Some data suggest that HIF1α-dependent up-regulation of the transferrin gene contributes to reactive species formation and liver injury in reperfusion, likely through iron-dependent reactive species accumulation.23 A protective effect of HIF1α induction on ischemia-reperfusion injury has also been described in in vitro models.24 Consistent with those results, knockout or silencing of the HIF-degrading PHD1 gene recently has been shown to attenuate IR injury.