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The Hepatic Nerves Regulated Inflammatory Effect in the Process of Liver Injury: Is Nerve the Key Treating Target for Liver Inflammation?

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Abstract

Liver injury is a common pathological basis for various liver diseases. Chronic liver injury is often an important initiating factor in liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Currently, hepatitis A and E infections are the most common causes of acute liver injury worldwide, whereas drug toxicity (paracetamol overdose) in the USA and part of Western Europe. In recent years, chronic liver injury has become a common disease that harms human health. Meanwhile, the main causes of chronic liver injury are viral hepatitis (B, C) and long-term alcohol consumption worldwide. During the process of liver injury, massive inflammatory cytokines are stimulated by these hazardous factors, leading to a systemic inflammatory response syndrome, followed by a compensatory anti-inflammatory response, which causes immune cell dysfunction and sepsis, subsequent multi-organ failure. Cytokine release and immune cell infiltration-mediated aseptic inflammation are the most important features of the pathobiology of liver failure. From this perspective, diminishing the onset and progression of liver inflammation is of clinical importance in the treatment of liver injury. Although many studies have hinted at the critical role of nerves in regulating inflammation, there largely remains undetermined how hepatic nerves mediate immune inflammation and how the inflammatory factors released by these nerves are involved in the process of liver injury. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to summarize previous studies in the field related to hepatic nerve and inflammation as well as future perspectives on the aforementioned questions. Our findings were presented in three aspects: types of nerve distribution in the liver, how these nerves regulate immunity, and the role of liver nerves in hepatitis and liver failure.

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Data Availability

The data used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank members of the Department of Infectious Diseases and Hunan Key Laboratory of Viral Hepatitis laboratory, especially Yinghui Xiong, for their helpful comments on the manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.81970523, 81800506), the National Science and Technology Major Project of China, (2018ZX10723203), and the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan province (2020JJ4877, 2020JJ5886, 2019JJ40494, 2021JJ70148, 2020JJ4906).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Infectious Diseases, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, 410008, China

    Kaili Yang, Zebing Huang, Shuyi Wang, Zhihong Zhao, Panpan Yi, Yayu Chen, Jun Quan & Xingwang Hu

  2. Department of Health Management Center, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, People’s Republic of China

    Meifang Xiao

  3. Hunan Key Laboratory of Viral Hepatitis, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, 87Th of Xiangya Road, Changsha, 410008, Hunan, China

    Xingwang Hu

  4. National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, People’s Republic of China

    Xingwang Hu

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  1. Kaili Yang
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Xingwang Hu designed the study. Kaili Yang collected and analyzed the data, and Kaili Yang, Xingwang Hu, and Jun Quan wrote the manuscript. Zebing Huang and Yayu Chen modified the manuscript. Panpan Yi, Meifang Xiao, Shuyi Wang, and Zhihong Zhao checked the data. All authors contributed to the revision of the manuscript and approved the final manuscript.

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Yang, K., Huang, Z., Wang, S. et al. The Hepatic Nerves Regulated Inflammatory Effect in the Process of Liver Injury: Is Nerve the Key Treating Target for Liver Inflammation?. Inflammation 46, 1602–1611 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10753-023-01854-x

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