Distinct development and functions of resident and recruited liver Kupffer cells/macrophages.

Kupffer Cells Undergo Fundamental Changes during the Development of Experimental NASH and Are Critical in Initiating Liver Damage and Inflammation

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease has become the leading liver disease in North America and is associated with the progressive inflammatory liver disease non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Considerable effort has been made to understand the role of resident and recruited macrophage populations in NASH however numerous questions remain. Our goal was to characterize the dynamic changes in live...

Distinct Hepatic Macrophage Populations in Lean and Obese Mice

Obesity is a complex metabolic disorder associated with the development of non-communicable diseases such as cirrhosis, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and type 2 diabetes. In humans and rodents, obesity promotes hepatic steatosis and inflammation, which leads to increased production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and acute-phase proteins. Liver macrophages (resident as well as recruited) pla...

Activation and increase of radio-sensitive CD11b+ recruited Kupffer cells/macrophages in diet-induced steatohepatitis in FGF5 deficient mice

We have recently reported that Kupffer cells consist of two subsets, radio-resistant resident CD68+ Kupffer cells and radio-sensitive recruited CD11b+ Kupffer cells/macrophages (Mφs). Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is characterized not only by hepatic steatosis but also chronic inflammation and fibrosis. In the present study, we investigated the immunological mechanism of diet-induced ste...

Ontogeny and Functions in Acute Liver and Resident Kupffer Cells Display Different Infiltrating Monocyte-Derived Macrophages

Janus-faced Kupffer cells in tumor metastasis

Kupffer cells are the resident liver macrophages of the liver; other tissues also have resident immune cells e.g., microglia in the brain. These cells have a distinct embryonic lineage when compared with circulating myeloid cells. In both the liver and brain micro-environments activation of their resident immune cells results in the synthesis of multiple growth factors and cytokines which stimu...