5% in the drinking water.26 All other methods are described in the Supporting Material. Twenty-four-week-old tx-j mice had lower body weights and higher liver/bodyweight ratios than control C3H mice (Table 1). Mean Selleck Lumacaftor hepatic Cu concentration was more than 30 times increased in the tx-j mice and was associated with

marked lobular and portal inflammation, with ∼6-fold increase in serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels and increased liver Tnf-α transcript levels. There were no differences in hepatic iron levels between the groups. Liver histopathology of tx-j mice at 24 weeks of age showed lymphocytic lobular and portal infiltrates and perisinusoidal fibrosis (Fig. 1). The oral provision of PCA to tx-j mice from age 12 to 24 weeks resulted in 50% reduction of hepatic Cu and serum ALT levels, 90% reduction in liver Tnf-α expression, and concomitant improvements of both lobular and portal infiltration, whereas betaine treatment had no effect on Tnf-α transcripts or serum ALT in tx-j mice, but significantly lowered mean hepatic Cu levels in control mice by 61% and nonsignificantly lowered mean hepatic Cu levels by 30% while reducing lobular inflammation (Table 1). Hepatocyte and nuclear diameters and their ratios and hepatocyte nuclear areas were increased in tx-j mice, but were unchanged by either PCA or betaine. The transcript levels of

selected genes related to ER stress (glucose-regulated protein Idoxuridine 78 [Grp78]), lipogenesis (sterol regulatory check details element-binding protein [Srebp1c]), and fatty acid β oxidation (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α [Pparα] and carnitine palmitoyl transferase 1A [Cpt1A]), and protein levels of SREBP1c and PPARα were each lower in untreated tx-j than in C3H mice (Fig. 2). PCA further down-regulated Srebp1c and Pparα transcript levels and protein levels of GRP78 and CPT1A in tx-j mice. Betaine down-regulated the transcript levels of Grp78, Pparα, and Cpt1A in the control mice and Cpt1A in tx-j mice, whereas both transcript and protein levels of SREBP1c, PPARα,

and CPT1A were each lower in betaine-treated tx-j mice than in betaine-treated control mice. Liver S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) levels were similar in the untreated groups, whereas SAH levels were increased and SAM to SAH ratios were lower in the tx-j mice versus control mice (Fig. 3A-C). Although SAHH activity was similar in both untreated groups (Fig. 3D), both SAHH gene and protein expressions were decreased in the tx-j mice (Fig. 3F). DNA methyltransferase 1 (Dnmt1) transcripts were up-regulated, Dnmt3a transcripts were similar, and Dnmt3b transcripts were down-regulated in tx-j mice (Fig. 4A-C). According to dot blot analysis, global DNA methylation was lower in tx-j than in C3H mice (Fig. 5). PCA treatment reduced Tnf-α transcripts by 10-fold (Table 1) and increased SAHH activity in tx-j mice (Fig.