Abstract
The liver is the only organ where the complete synthesis of bile acids takes place. The present study was undertaken to investigate whether regional differences exist within the individual human hepatic lobuli regarding the pattern of expression of sterol 12α-hydroxylase (CYP8B1), a key enzyme in bile acid synthesis. A specific anti-human CYP8B1 peptide antiserum was developed and used for Western blotting and hepatic immunostaining of livers from various patients. CYP8B1 in human liver was expressed in the cytoplasm of hepatocytes with an even nonzonal distribution within the liver lobulus. Pericentral expression was confirmed for CYP2E1. A weak staining was noted in cholangiocytes and Kupffer cells. Previous studies on hepatic CYP27A1 and CYP7A1 in rats have shown a zonal expression, primarily in the pericentral region. Our studies indicate a different pattern for CYP8B1 expression in human liver, which was even rather than zonal.
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Acknowledgements
This study was supported by grants from The Swedish Research Council, The Swedish Heart and Lung Foundation, The Swedish Society for Medicine, Wallenberg Consortium North, and the Julin Foundation. We are thankful to Dr. Magnus Ingelman-Sundberg, Karolinska Institutet, for providing us with antibodies against the rat CYP2E1.
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Wang, J., Greene, S., Eriksson, L.C. et al. Human sterol 12α-hydroxylase (CYP8B1) is mainly expressed in hepatocytes in a homogenous pattern. Histochem Cell Biol 123, 441–446 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00418-005-0779-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00418-005-0779-0