Abstract
Background Radiation-induced intestinal injury is one of the side effects in patients receiving radiotherapy. The aim of the present study was to investigate the protective effect of XH-103 on radiation-induced small intestinal injury and to explore its mechanism. Methods C57BL/6N mice were irradiated and treated with XH-103. Firstly, the survival rate of mice exposed to 9.0 Gy and 11.0 Gy total body irradiation (TBI) was examined. Subsequently, at 3.5 d after IR, the small intestinal morphological changes were examined by HE. The numbers of crypt cells, the villus height, the expression of Ki67 and Lgr5, and the apoptotic cells in the intestinal crypts were examined by immunohistochemistry. Furthermore, the expression of p53 and Bax was analyzed by WB. Results Compared to the irradiation group, XH-103 improved the mice survival rate, protected the intestinal morphology of mice, decreased the apoptotic rate of intestinal crypt cells, maintained cell regeneration, and promoted crypt proliferation and differentiation. XH-103 also reduced the expression of p53 and Bax in the small intestine compared to the IR group. Conclusion These data demonstrate that XH-103 can prevent radiation-induced intestinal injury, which is beneficial for the protection of radiation injuries.
Highlights
Radiation therapy is widely used in a variety of cancer treatments
We observe that XH-103 improved the survival rate of mice exposed to the lethal dose total body irradiation (TBI), which indicates that XH-103 could protect the mice from irradiation
Epithelial homeostasis is maintained by proliferative cells in crypts, and the small intestinal crypt cells are sensitive to ionizing radiation (IR) due to their high proliferative rate [19]
Summary
Radiation therapy is widely used in a variety of cancer treatments. The small intestine is one of the most sensitive organs to ionizing radiation (IR) in the human body. High doses of ionizing radiation induce acute damage to epithelial cells of the intestines and produce death within 10 days reflecting toxicity to the gastrointestinal (GI) tract [1]. The aim of the present study was to investigate the protective effect of XH-103 on radiation-induced small intestinal injury and to explore its mechanism. Compared to the irradiation group, XH-103 improved the mice survival rate, protected the intestinal morphology of mice, decreased the apoptotic rate of intestinal crypt cells, maintained cell regeneration, and promoted crypt proliferation and differentiation. XH-103 reduced the expression of p53 and Bax in the small intestine compared to the IR group. These data demonstrate that XH-103 can prevent radiation-induced intestinal injury, which is beneficial for the protection of radiation injuries
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