The aim of the present study was to investigate the putative effects of a low-protein diet on the three-dimensional structure of hepatocytes and determine whether this scenario could be reversed by restoring the adequate levels of protein to the diet.
Using design-based stereology, the total number and volume of hepatocytes were estimated in the liver of mice in healthy and altered (by protein malnutrition) conditions and after protein renutrition.
This study demonstrated a 65% decrease in the liver volume (3302 mm(3) for the control for undernourished versus 1141 mm(3) for the undernourished group) accompanied by a 46% reduction in the hepatocyte volume (8223 μm(3) for the control for undernourished versus 4475 μm(3) for the undernourished group) and a 90% increase in the total number of binucleate hepatocytes (1 549 393 for the control for undernourished versus 2 941 353 for the undernourished group). Reinstating a normoproteinic diet (12% casein) proved to be effective in restoring the size of hepatocytes, leading to an 85% increase in the total number of uninucleate hepatocytes (15 988 560 for the undernourished versus 29 600 520 for the renourished group), and partially reversed the liver atrophy.
Awareness of these data will add to a better morphologic understanding of malnutrition-induced hepatopathies and will help clinicians improve the diagnosis and treatment of this condition in humans and in veterinary practice.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 68. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 25 May 2021.
All research outputs
#630,228
of 25,382,440 outputs
Outputs from Nutrition
#128
of 3,246 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#13,182
of 323,974 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Nutrition
#3
of 27 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,382,440 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 97th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 3,246 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 14.2. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 96% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 323,974 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 95% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 27 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 88% of its contemporaries.
