Mouse model for chronic liver damage and fibrosis

Persistent injury to the liver eventually leads to fibrosis and, in the worst cases, liver failure. Although several rodent models for inducible, acute liver fibrosis are available, only a few transgenic mouse models have been described that spontaneously develop liver fibrosis. Now, Kong et al. have created a novel transgenic mouse model for chronic liver fibrosis by using a gene-trap strategy to disrupt the Ncu-g1 gene, which encodes a lysosomal membrane protein that is expressed in the liver. Ncu-g1^gt/gt mice develop and grow normally, the researchers report, but spontaneously develop liver fibrosis and exhibit the molecular hallmarks of well-established fibrosis by the age of 6 months. Ncu-g1^gt/gt mice might, therefore, provide an animal model for the study of chronic liver injury and liver fibrosis, and for the development of treatments for these conditions. Page 351