Immunohistochemical expression of NF-κB, α-SMA and TGFβ1 in experimental hepatic injury rats

Objective To study the immunolocation and expression of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) 、alpha-SMA (α-SMA) and transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGFβ1) in different stages of experimental rats hepatic injury and discuss the possible effects and correlation in the development of liver injury.Methods Hepatic injury model rats were induced by multiple factors including carbon tertrachloride (CCl4) .Altogether 50 SD rats of SPF grade were randomly divided into two groups: normal control group (20rats) and model control group (30rats) .The model group rats were injected subcutaneously with 40% CCl4 olive oil (2 ml/kg) for the first time, and later the model rats were injected with CCl4 olive oil (40%, 1.5 ml/kg) twice a week for 6 weeks and 10 weeks, and in the meantime they were given orally with 30% ethanol (6 ml/kg) every other day and given a high-fat diet continuously for 6 weeks and 10 weeks;The normal group were injected subcutaneously with olive oil 2 ml/kg for the first time and later injected with olive oil (1.5 ml/kg) twice a week with normal water diet for 6 weeks and 10 weeks.Respectively the rats were killed after 6 weeks or 10 weeks and studied for general condition.In all the tested rats, their liver tissues were obtained for pathological observation and immunohistochemistry staining.The expression degree of NF-κB、α-SMA and TGFβ1 and changes of morphology in liver were measured by image analysis system.Results Hepatic injury models were successfully constructed.The expression of NF-κB、α-SMA and TGFβ1 were gradually increased in the different processes of experimental hepatic injury rats, respectively (P<0.01 or P <0.05) .There were distinctly positive correlation among the expression of NF-κB、α-SMA and TGFβ1 (r1=0.961, P1<0.01;r2=0.923, P2<0.01;r3=0.953, P3<0.01) .Conclusion NF-κB、α-SMA and TGFβ1 play significant role in the development of hepatic fibrosis and they play a reciprocal promoting role to lead the hepatic fibrosis.They can be regarded as one of the principal makers to predict the severe degree of hepatic fibrosis, meanwhile our results may provide theory foundation for us to target hepatic fibrosis through NF-κB、α-SMA and TGFβ1.