Establishment Of Stable Reporter Expression For In Vivo Imaging Of Nuclear Factor-Kappa B Activation In Mouse Liver

The nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kappa B) signaling pathway plays a critical role in a multitude of cellular processes. Activation of the NF-kappa B transcription factor family is essential for the initiation of inflammation, immunity, cell proliferation and apoptosis through a list of responsive genes. In hepatic tissue, activation of the NF-kappa B pathway has been implicated in a number of pathological conditions. Here we described a mouse model for noninvasive quantification of NF-kappa B activation in the hepatic tissues. Mice were subjected to hydrodynamic delivery with a mixture of pattB-NF-kappa B-Fluc reporter and phi C31o integrase vector. Hepatic expression of phi C31o integrase mediated chromosomal integration of the pattB-NF-kappa B-Fluc reporter, resulting in stable luciferase expression at 300 days post transfection. We applied noninvasive imaging and were able to detect NF-kappa B activation under acute liver injury and hepatitis conditions. During hepatectomy-induced liver regeneration, NF-kappa B activation was detected locally in the tissues at the surgery site. Treatment with Sorafenib suppressed NF-kappa B activation, accompanied with perturbation of liver regeneration. In conclusion, we established a method for stable transfection of the hepatic tissues and applied the transfected mice to longitudinal monitoring of NF-kappa B activity under pathological conditions. Further exploration of this methodology for establishment of other disease models and for evaluation of novel pharmaceuticals is likely to be fruitful.