We found that 2 days after three pIpC injections the deletion of TRRAP was highly efficient in the liver (nearly 100%) and significantly less efficient in other organs such as brain, heart, and bone marrow as monitored by southern blotting reverse-transcription (RT)-PCR (Fig. 1B, and data not shown).14 All TRRAP-CKO mice injected with three doses of pIpC remained viable for the duration of the experiments. Thereafter, TRRAPf/ΔCre+ mice treated with pIpC were designated TRRAP-CKO mice, whereas TRRAPf/ΔCre+ injected with PBS and TRRAPf/ΔCre− injected with pIpC were designated the control group (TRRAP-Co) (Fig. 1A). To examine

the impact of TRRAP deletion on liver regeneration, we used a mouse model of toxic liver injury induced by a single injection of liver toxin CCl4.8, 19 After we induced Selleck PXD101 CCl4 damage, mice were sacrificed at different timepoints (Fig. 1A). We observed that TRRAP-deficient mice

(TRRAP-CKO) exhibited significantly lower survival than did TRRAP containing control mice (TRRAP-Co) (Fig. 1C). Before CCl4 treatment, adult TRRAP-CKO livers were histologically normal, and liver histology was indistinguishable from that of TRRAP-containing controls (Fig. 1D; timepoint = 0 hours), suggesting that loss of TRRAP compromises mouse survival after toxic liver injury. Analysis of CCl4-induced damage revealed markedly less regeneration in livers from TRRAP-CKO compared to TRRAP-Co mice (Fig. 1D). These results show that loss of TRRAP impairs liver regeneration without altering the degree of RG7420 mouse initial liver injury and indicate that TRRAP may be an important factor in liver regeneration. We next assessed cell proliferation in the regenerating liver (by BrdU incorporation and PCNA immunostaining). Neither BrdU nor PCNA staining occurred in TRRAP-Co or TRRAP-CKO livers before CCl4 treatment (0 hours after CCl4 treatment), consistent with the cells being in the quiescent (G0) phase (Fig.

2A). Importantly, a sharp increase in hepatocyte proliferation in TRRAP-Co livers after CCl4 treatment (as judged BrdU and PCNA index) was markedly impaired in TRRAP-CKO livers (statistically significant, *P > 0.05) (Fig. 2A,B,D,E). Of note, DNA synthesis in nonparenchymal liver cells was also impaired in TRRAP-CKO mice compared this website to control mice (statistical significance P > 0.05) after CCl4 injection (Fig. 2C). These results suggest that TRRAP is important for proliferation of both hepatocytes and nonparenchymal liver cells during liver regeneration. To investigate the function of TRRAP in liver regeneration, we counted mitotic figures and examined them for abnormalities and found that the number of mitotic figures was strikingly lower in livers of TRRAP-CKO mice than in TRRAP-Co mice (Fig. 3A), suggesting the possible involvement of TRRAP in mitotic progression.