The effect of octreotide on morphological hepatic regeneration and hepatic functional recovery after a two-thirds hepatectomy in rats

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The aim of this study was to clarify the effect of octreotide on either morphological hepatic regeneration or hepatic function after a two-thirds hepatectomy in rats. METHODOLOGY: The rats were separated into two groups as follows: group 1 received 100 mu g of octreotide acetate subcutaneously every 6 hours from 24 hours before hepatic resection until sacrifice; group 2 received 0.9% saline solution instead of octreotide as a control. Morphological hepatic regeneration, protein synthesis and mitochondrial function were all studied. RESULTS: The regenerative rate in liver volume and the BrdU labeling index in group 1 were significantly lower than those in group 2. The levels of glutamic acid dehydrogenase were significantly lower in group 1 than those in group 2 at 24 (64.2 +/- 14.6 and 77.8 +/- 8.3 IU/l, respectively), 36 (46.1 + 14.4 and 60.6 +/- 5.9 IU/l, respectively) and 48 hours (39.7 +/- 13.7 and 51.0 +/- 11.8 IU/l, respectively) after hepatectomy. At 24 hours after hepatectomy, the levels of arterial ketone body ratio was higher in group 1 than in group 2 (0.67 +/- 0.05 and 0.51 +/- 0.07, respectively), and the energy charge of the liver was also higher in group 1 than in group 2 (0.662 +/- 0.031 and 0.605 +/- 0.053, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that morphological hepatic regeneration is not necessarily synchronized with hepatic functional recovery. In addition, hepatic functional recovery was preserved by keeping the energy metabolism in hepatocytes, even when the use of octreotide suppressed morphological hepatic regeneration.