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[Involvement of metallothionein in the protection of lung ischemic preconditioning.] [Ariticle in Chinese]

XU Dong-Wu, SHI Lu, JIA Xu-Guang, QIAN Xiao-Ying, TANG Lan-Lan, ZHANG Yan-Hua, WANG Yang, WANG Wan-Tie

Department of Pathophysiology of Wenzhou Medical College, Wenzhou 325035, China； Health School of Tongxiang, Tongxiang 314500, China； Respiration Department of the 3rd People’s Hospital of Wenzhou, Wenzhou 325000, China

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether metallothionein was involved in the protection of lung ischemicpreconditioning (IP) against lung ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 3groups based upon the intervention (n=8): control group (C), lung I/R group (I/R), lung I/R+IP group (IP). At the end of the experiment,the content of metallothionein was tested in lung tissue. Blood specimens collected from the arteria carotis were tested for the contentsof malondialdehyde (MDA), the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and myeloperoxidase (MPO). The pneumocyte apoptosisindex (AI) was determined by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL). Ultrastructuralchanges of lung tissue were observed by using transmission electron microscope. The results showed that in I/R group, the content ofmetallothionein was decreased (P<0.05), the content of MDA and MPO activity were increased (P<0.01), and SOD activity wasdecreased (P<0.01), compared with those in control group. IP treatment significantly increased the content of metallothionein (P<0.01),attenuated the MDA level (P<0.05) and MPO activity (P<0.01), and improved SOD activity (P<0.01) in blood serum. The number ofTUNEL-positive cells in IP group was significantly reduced compared with that in I/R group (P<0.01). There were abnormal ultrastructuralchanges in I/R group, which were markedly reversed in IP group. In conclusion, IP may protect lung against I/R injury byinducing the expression of metallothionein.

Key words: Lung; ischemia/reperfusion injury; ischemic preconditioning; metallothionein

Received: 2010-06-07　　Accepted: 2010-09-19

Corresponding author: 王万铁　　E-mail: wzwwt@tom.com

Citing This Article：

XU Dong-Wu, SHI Lu, JIA Xu-Guang, QIAN Xiao-Ying, TANG Lan-Lan, ZHANG Yan-Hua, WANG Yang, WANG Wan-Tie. [Involvement of metallothionein in the protection of lung ischemic preconditioning.] [Ariticle in Chinese] . Acta Physiol Sin 2010; 62 (5): 465-468 (in Chinese with English abstract).