Dr. Ramon M. Corpuz
Liminal R&D BioSciences Inc
Title: PBI-4050, an antifibrotic/metabolic compound, reduces liver steatosis, ballooning and fibrosis in various metabolic and fibrotic models
Biography
Biography: Dr. Ramon M. Corpuz
Abstract
Chronic liver diseases are a major cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. Liver fibrosis is characterized by progressive accumulation of extracellular matrix proteins, resulting in destruction of the hepatic architecture.This study investigates the effect of anti-fibrotic/metabolic compound PBI-4050 on NASH and liver fibrosis using three animal models.
C57BL/6 mice were fed with either a standard or a high-fat diet for 14 weeks and treated with PBI-4050 (200 mg/kg, oral once a day) for an additional six weeks. Liver fibrosis was induced by 10% CCl4 in (2 mL/kg), twice a week for 8 weeks. Mice were treated from day 1 to 58 with oral administration of PBI-4050 (200 mg/kg). Bile duct ligation (BDL) was performed on male Wistar rats on day 0 and treated with PBI-4050 (200 mg/kg) (day 1 to 21).
PBI-4050 reduced steatosis and ballooning as well as improved glycogen deposition in HFD-induced NASH. Extensive collagen accumulation was observed in the liver of CCl4-treated animals compared to control. PBI-4050 significantly reduced collagen deposition as measured by histological examination of the liver (H&E, Masson's trichrome staining and histomorphometric analysis of collagen deposition). Treatment with PBI-4050 also reduced liver fibrosis in BDL, as shown by a reduction of collagen in histological analysis.