Sleep deprivation aggravated lipopolysaccharide/d-galactosamine-induced acute liver injury by suppressing melatonin production

Objective Sleep loss is common in patients with liver injury, but the effects of sleep deprivation (SD) on liver injury remain unclear. In the present study, the potential effects of SD on acute liver injury and the underlying mechanisms have been investigated. Methods The sleep of male BALB/c mice has been deprived by using a modified multiple platform water bath for 3 days and acute liver injury was induced by intraperitoneal injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) andd-galactosamine (D-Gal). The degree of liver injury was detected by aminotransferase determination, histopathology and survival rate analysis. Inflammatory response and melatonin (MT) were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). In addition, hepatocyte apoptosis was determined by caspase activity measurement and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay. Results We observed that SD increased plasma aminotransferases, TUNEL-positive hepatocytes, histological abnormalities and mortality rates in mice with LPS/D-Gal treatment. SD also promoted LPS/D-Gal-induced production of TNF-alpha and upregulated hepatic caspase-8, caspase-9, and caspase-3 activities in LPS/D-Gal-exposed mice. In addition, SD significantly decreased MT contents in plasma of mice with acute liver injury, but supplementation with MT reversed these SD-promoted changes. Conclusion Our data suggested that SD exacerbated LPS/D-Gal-induced liver injury via decreasing melatonin production.