Macroautophagy mediates the bulk degradation of cytoplasmic components. It accounts for the degradation of most long-lived proteins: cytoplasmic constituents, including organelles, are sequestered into autophagosomes, which subsequently fuse with lysosomes, where degradation occurs. Although the possible involvement of autophagy in homeostasis, development, cell death, and pathogenesis has been repeatedly pointed out, systematic in vivo analysis has not been performed in mammals, mainly because of a limitation of monitoring methods. To understand where and when autophagy occurs in vivo, we have generated transgenic mice systemically expressing GFP fused to LC3, which is a mammalian homologue of yeast Atg8 (Aut7/Apg8) and serves as a marker protein for autophagosomes. Fluorescence microscopic analyses revealed that autophagy is differently induced by nutrient starvation in most tissues. In some tissues, autophagy even occurs actively without starvation treatments. Our results suggest that the regulation of autophagy is organ dependent and the role of autophagy is not restricted to the starvation response. This transgenic mouse model is a useful tool to study mammalian autophagy.

In Vivo Analysis of Autophagy in Response to Nutrient Starvation Using Transgenic Mice Expressing a Fluorescent Autophagosome Marker

Ordered Organelle Degradation during Starvation-induced Autophagy

Acute pancreatitis is an inflammatory disease of the exocrine pancreas that carries considerable morbidity and mortality; its pathophysiology remains poorly understood. Recent findings from experimental models and genetically altered mice summarized in this review reveal that autophagy, the principal cellular degradative pathway, is impaired in pancreatitis and that one cause of autophagy impairment is defective function of lysosomes. We propose that the lysosomal/autophagic dysfunction is a key initiating event in pancreatitis and a converging point of multiple deranged pathways. There is strong evidence supporting this hypothesis. Investigation of autophagy in pancreatitis has just started, and many questions about the “upstream” mechanisms mediating the lysosomal/autophagic dysfunction and the “downstream” links to pancreatitis pathologies need to be explored. Answers to these questions should provide insight into novel molecular targets and therapeutic strategies for treatment of pancreatitis.

Autophagy and pancreatitis.

The INHAND (International Harmonization of Nomenclature and Diagnostic Criteria for Lesions in Rats and Mice) project is a joint initiative of the Societies of Toxicologic Pathology from Europe (ESTP), Great Britain (BSTP), Japan (JSTP), and North America (STP) to develop an internationally accepted nomenclature and diagnostic criteria for nonproliferative and proliferative lesions in laboratory animals. The purpose of this publication is to provide a standardized nomenclature and diagnostic criteria for classifying lesions in the digestive system including the salivary glands and the exocrine pancreas of laboratory rats and mice. Most lesions are illustrated by color photomicrographs. The standardized nomenclature, the diagnostic criteria, and the photomicrographs are also available electronically on the Internet (http://www.goreni.org/). Sources of material included histopathology databases from government, academia, and industrial laboratories throughout the world. Content includes spontaneous and age related lesions as well as lesions induced by exposure to test items. Relevant infectious and parasitic lesions are included as well. A widely accepted and utilized international harmonization of nomenclature and diagnostic criteria for the digestive system will decrease misunderstandings among regulatory and scientific research organizations in different countries and provide a common language to increase and enrich international exchanges of information among toxicologists and pathologists.

Nonproliferative and Proliferative Lesions of the Gastrointestinal Tract, Pancreas and Salivary Glands of the Rat and Mouse

The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the importance of the pathologic alterations that can be induced by drugs in the liver of laboratory animals and their implication for hepatic toxicity in patients. It describes anatomy and physiology of the liver of the laboratory species in some detail and discusses how these may differ from humans. Drug-induced hepatic alterations described include changes to hepatic weight, hypertrophy, hyperplasia, storage disorders, pathology of the bile duct and gallbladder as well as the frequently occurring neoplasms in the rodent liver and their implications for human therapy. The chapter also describes a similar range of changes that can be seen in the exocrine pancreas and the endocrine alterations in the islets of Langerhans.

Liver and Pancreas

Ultrastructural changes of the pancreatic exocrine cells after 3, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35 and 42 days of starvation were observed in male rats aged from 16 to 18 months weighing between 600 and 700 grams. The number of zymogen granules after starvation decreased to less than about 70 per cent of that of the control. Changes in the rough endoplasmic reticulum were hardly seen up to 14 days of starvation as compared with the control, but were observed in the apical and basal cytoplasm of the cell from 21 days after starvation. Particularly in 35- and 42-day starved rats, the rough endoplasmic reticulum was frequently shortened and dilated, and changed to disorganized membranous structures. The lysosomes in the apical cytoplasm of the cell gradually increased in number after starvation, and contact or fusion between the zymogen granules and lysosomes (viz, so-called crinophagy) was often seen at 35 and 42 days of starvation. Large autolysosomes especially those containing zymogen granules and rough endoplasmic reticulum were also marked in the basal cytoplasm of the cell after 35 and 42 days of starvation. Alterations in the basal cytoplasm of the cell appeared later than those in the apical cytoplasm. It was considered that, owing to its role in protein synthesis, the basal cytoplasm of the pancreatic exocrine cells in starved rats might be protected as far as possible during long-term starvation.

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T Kitagawa

Papers

Ultrastructure of pancreatic exocrine cells of the rat during starvation