The effect of postconditioning on apoptosis-related gene expression of lung tissues in rat intestinal ischemia-reperfusion

AIM: To investigate the effect of postconditioning on apoptosis-related gene expression of lung tissues in rat intestinal ischemia-reperfusion(I/R). METHODS: Male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into 3 groups which were sham operation group (sham), I/R group and ischemic postconditioning (IPOST) group. The experimental animals were sacrificed after reperfusion for 6 h. The tissue sections were stained with hematoxylin and eosin and examined under light microscope to observe lung histopathological changes. Lung W/D ratios were measured. Lung tissue samples were taken to detect Bcl-2, Bax and caspase-3 mRNA and protein expression using RT-PCR and Western blotting analysis, respectively. RESULTS: Compared with I/R group, the morphological changes of lung were alleviated and the lung W/D ratios significantly decreased in IPOST group (P<0.05). The mRNA and protein expression of Bcl-2 in IPOST group was obviously higher than that in I/R group (P<0.05), while the mRNA and protein expression of Bax and caspase-3 in IPOST group was obviously higher than that in I/R group (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Ischemic postconditioning attenuated intestinal ischemia-reperfusion-induced acute lung injury partly by increasing Bcl-2 mRNA and protein expression, reducing Bax mRNA and protein expression.