BACKGROUND: Serum laminin has been correlated with portal hypertension and sinusoid capillarization in chronic liver diseases. Little is known about its dynamics in liver diseases. AIM: To investigate the levels of serum laminin in experimental cirrhosis induced by carbon tetrachloride, as well as to correlate its level with the degree of hepatic fibrosis and portal hypertension. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Forty-nine albino Wistar rats were studied. Twenty-three were treated with carbon tetrachloride solution at 8% and 16 were kept as controls. Between the 6th and 16th weeks, all animals were sacrificed, submitted to measurement of portal pressure and blood sampling of the femoral veins. Liver fragments were fixed for light microscopic studies. Hepatic fibrosis was classified as perivenular fibrosis, complete and incomplete septal fibrosis and cirrhosis. Determination of laminin concentration was performed by ELISA with an antibody against laminin isolated from Engelbreth-Holm-Swarm tumor. RESULTS: The portal pressure was correlated with the degree of hepatic fibrosis (rs = 0.82; n = 45). Its levels in septal fibrosis (10.8 ± 1.2 cm H(2)0) and cirrhosis (13.6 ± 3.1 cm H(2)0) were statistically higher when compared to control (7.9 ± 1.5 cm H20) and perivenular fibrosis (9.1 ± 0.8 cm H(2)0) groups. Peripheral blood laminin concentration in cirrhosis (40.0 ± 18.7 mg/dL) was significantly higher when compared to control (13.8 ± 12.1 mg/dL), perivenular fibrosis (19.1 ± 15.5 mg/dL) and septal fibrosis (22.2 ± 27.0 mg/dL) groups. The circulating laminin was correlated to the degree of hepatic fibrosis (rs = 0.59; n = 49) and to portal pressure (r = 0.29; n = 45). CONCLUSIONS: In the chronic carbon tetrachloride intoxication, laminin levels are better correlated with the development of hepatic fibrosis than with portal hypertension.
Laminin; Carbon tetrachloride; Extracellular matrix; Hypertension, portal; Liver cirrhosis, experimental; Rats
