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World J Hepatol. Feb 27, 2019; 11(2): 173-185
Published online Feb 27, 2019. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v11.i2.173
Hepatic encephalopathy: Lessons from preclinical studies
Luiza Cioglia Dias Lima, Aline Silva Miranda, Rodrigo Novaes Ferreira, Milene Alvarenga Rachid, Ana Cristina Simões e Silva
Luiza Cioglia Dias Lima, Milene Alvarenga Rachid, Departamento de Patologia Geral, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais 31270-901, Brasil
Aline Silva Miranda, Rodrigo Novaes Ferreira, Departamento de Morfologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, UFMG, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais 30130-100, Brasil
Aline Silva Miranda, Ana Cristina Simões e Silva, Laboratório Interdisciplinar de Investigação Médica, Faculdade de Medicina, UFMG, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais 30130-100, Brasil
Author contributions: Lima LCD, Miranda AS, Ferreira RN, Rachid MA and Simões e Silva AC contributed equally to this work, designed and performed the research and analyzed the data.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they do not have any conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ana Cristina Simoes e Silva, MD, PhD, Full Professor, Laboratório Interdisciplinar de Investigação Médica, Faculdade de Medicina, UFMG, Avenida Alfredo Balena, 190, 2o andar, sala 281, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais 30130-100, Brazil. acssilva@hotmail.com
Telephone: +55-31-34098073
Received: August 29, 2018
Peer-review started: August 29, 2018
First decision: October 16, 2018
Revised: November 19, 2018
Accepted: January 28, 2019
Article in press: January 28, 2019
Published online: February 27, 2019
Processing time: 181 Days and 14.4 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a major complication closely related to the progression of end-stage liver disease. It can be subdivided according to the type of hepatic injury: type A, which results from acute liver failure, type B, which is associated with a portosystemic shunting without intrinsic liver disease, and type C, which is due to chronic liver disease. In this article, we have described the use of preclinical models to investigate HE. We have briefly described the applicability and the characteristics of these experimental models. In conclusion, preclinical models have allowed the comprehension of the pathways related to HE.