Secretome of Adipose-Derived Stem Cells Protect Ischemia-Reperfusion and Partial Hepatectomy by Attenuating Autophagy

Abstract Background: The therapeutic effects of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADSCs) may mainly come from their paracrine effects. ADSCs can ameliorate hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI). We explored the therapeutic effect of ADSCs secretome from the perspective of excessive autophagy of hepatocytes induced by hepatic IRI. Methods: In this study, we established a miniature pig model of hepatic ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) combined with hepatectomy using laparoscopic technique, and transplanted ADSCs and adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cell-conditioned medium (ADSC-CM) into the liver parenchyma immediately after surgery. Histopathological and TEM examinations were performed on liver tissue samples collected. We analyzed the roles of ADSC-CM and ADSCs in autophagy by RT-qPCR, western-blot and immunohistochemistry. Results: The results showed that ADSCs and ADSC-CM all alleviated the pathological changes of liver tissue and the microstructural damage of hepatocytes after IRI. Moreover, the expression of the critical markers of autophagy including Beclin-1, ATG5, ATG12 and LC3II all decreased, whereas expression of p62 increased. And the data of autophagy regulation between ADSC-CM and ADSCs showed no significant difference. Finally, we found that ADSC-CM possibly inhibited autophagy by regulating the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway. Conclusion: ADSC-CM can ameliorate excessive autophagy injury in hepatic I/R combined with partial hepatectomy, which is possibly involved with the modulation of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway. There was no significant difference between ADSCs and ADSC-CM in the regulation of hepatocyte autophagy. Therefore, ADSCs may improve the excessive autophagy injury of hepatocytes in hepatic I/R combined with hepatectomy through paracrine effect, thus protecting the liver and promoting the liver tissue repair.