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A histological analysis of glycogen content in hepatocytes of trefoil factor family 2 and trefoil factor family 3 knock-out mice

Trefoil factor family (Tff) peptide 2 and Tff peptide 3 are small peptides mostly present in the gastrointestinal mucosa and related to mucosal protection and restitution. Tff3 is included in hepatic glucose metabolism, and both Tff2 and Tff3 peptide stimulate beta-cell proliferation in the pancreatic islets. Tff2 and Tff3 deficient mice including appropriate wild type mice of mixed background (Sv129/C57Bl6) (N=6 per genotype) were kept on standard diet until 6 month old. Glycogen distribution was monitored in PAS stained formalin fixed and paraffin embedded tissue sections (6 µm). Areas of strongest glycogen staining were chosen for analysis and glycogen- positive cells were counted within regions of 100 cells. Using an arbitrary semiquantitative scale, the signal was classified as weak (0-35 positive cells), medium (36-70 positive cells) and strong (71 or more positive cells). Tff3 deficient mice had the strongest accumulation of glycogen that was statistically increased compared to wild-type mice (p=0.005, Mann- Whitney U test). Liver glycogen distribution in Tff2 deficient mice was heterogeneous and overall signal did not differ statistically from that of wild-type mice (p=0.5). Our results support the notion that Tff3 peptide is included in the hepatic glucose and glycogen metabolism. Further, metabolism-oriented studies are needed to elucidate the exact metabolic role of Tff3 peptide.

Tff ; liver ; histology ; glycogen

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