Caveolae participate in several cellular processes such as vesicular transport, cholesterol homeostasis, regulation of signal transduction, integrin signaling, and cell growth. The expression and functional role of caveolin (Cav), the most abundant protein of caveolae, has been reported in liver and in different hepatocyte cell lines, in human cirrhotic liver, and in hepatocellular carcinomas. The role of Cav-1 in liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy (PH) has been investigated as a model of liver proliferation in vivo. Our results show that Cav-1 increases in liver after PH with a redistribution of the protein from the caveola-enriched domain to the noncaveolar fraction. Moreover, the Cav-1 located in the noncaveolar fraction is phosphorylated in tyrosine 14, even though the Cav-1 gene is dispensable for liver regeneration after PH, as deduced from data obtained with commercially available animals lacking this gene. In addition to this, the proinflammatory stimulation of hepatocytes induces Cav-1 translocation to a noncaveolar fraction and tyrosine 14 phosphorylation mainly through the activation of tyrosine kinases such as Src.
Conclusion: These results support a dynamic role for Cav-1 in liver proliferation both in vivo after PH and in vitro in cultured hepatic cell lines, but with minimal implications for the liver regeneration process.