Effects of anoxia on expression of transforming growth factor-β1 in rat liver

Abstract

AIM: To investigate the effect of anoxia on the expression of transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) in the rat liver.METHODS: A total of 20 Sprague Dawley rats were used in this study. Trachea obstructive method was employed to establish the animal model of mild, moderate, and severe anoxia. Liver samples were collected 15 and 60 min after obstruction for the examination of TGF-β1 ex-pression using immunohistochemical technique.RESULTS: TGF-β1 was not or lowly expressed in normal rats (3.6 ± 1.9 and 3.6 ± 1.9, respective-ly at 15 and 60 min). The level of hepatic TGF-β1 expression was increased with prolonging of anoxia time and enhancement of anoxia degree. The expression of hepatic TGF-β1 at 15 and 60min was 8.5 ± 2.0 and 15.2 ± 3.1 under mild an-oxia, 18.4 ± 3.5 and 63.7 ± 3.8 under moderate anoxia, and 68.9 ± 3.2 and 86.7 ± 3.6 under se-vere anoxia, respectively. There were significant differences between normal and anoxia rats (P 0.05 or P 0.01).CONCLUSION: TGF-β1 expression is increased under the condition of anoxia, which accelerates the formation of extracellular matrix, and fur-ther contributes to the repair and regeneration of liver cells.