Correlation between reg I expression and intestinal mucosal lesion of acute necrotizing pancreatitis in rats

AIM: To investigate gene expression of reg I in intestinal tissues in rats with acute necrotizing pancreatitis (ANP) and to determine correlation between reg Ⅰ gene expression and intestinal mucosal lesion.

METHODS: Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly allocated into the control group (n = 40) and ANP group (n = 80). The rats in control group received laparotomy only. In ANP group, 30 g/L sodium taurocholate was injected under constant temperature into the pancreatic duct to develop the ANP model. Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed to detect reg Ⅰ mRNA level in pancreas and intestines. The pathologic changes of pancreas and intestines were observed, the permeability of intestinal mucosa was estimated. The measured parameters were evaluated to find whether correlation exited between reg Ⅰ mRNA expression level and pathological mucosal changes of ANP.

RESULTS: The intestinal pathological scores of ANP rats were significantly higher than that of control group at 12, 24, 36 h (1.8 ± 0.89 vs 0.2 ±0.42, 3.3 ± 1.17 vs 0.3 ± 0.48, 4.2 ± 0.95 vs 0.3 ± 0.48, all P < 0.01), postoperatively. The excretory rate of [^99mTc]-DTPA in ANP rats were higher at 12, 24, 36 h, postoperatively, compared with control group (34.70% ± 4.03% vs 4.62% ± 1.17%, 54.63% ± 6.94% vs 6.14% ± 1.42%, 66.83% ± 7.56% vs 7.48% ± 0.92%, all P < 0.01). Reg Ⅰ mRNA was highly expressed in intestine in ANP rats compared with that in control group. Reg Ⅰ expression level was positively correlated with intestinal pathological scores(r = 0.6728, P < 0.01) and with intestinal permeability (r = 0.7092, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSION: Reg Ⅰ mRNA expression is up-regulated in intestinal tissues in ANP rats, and expression level of reg Ⅰ is positively correlated with severity of intestinal mucosal lesion caused by ANP.