ABSTRACT
Objective To study the role of kallikrein 8 (KLK 8) in the pathogenesis of cerebral white matter injury induced by intrauterine infection.Method The pregnant Sprague Dawley rats were randomly assigned into two groups:the observation group and the control group.The rats in the observation group received intraperitoneal injection of lipopolysaccharide (500 μg/kg) by at day 18 and 19 of pregnancy,while the control group received the same dose of saline.The morphology of white matter of the newborn rats were observed at 1 d,3 d,7 d and 14 d after birth.The expression of KLK 8 in the hippocampus was examined using Western blot and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RTPCR);the concentration of KLK 8 in the serum was measured using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method at the same time.Result In the observation group,the brain tissue was loose and edematous,the cerebral white matter was weakly stained,and the number of cells reduced.The expressions of KLK 8 in hippocampus in the observation group were higher than the control group [1 d:(0.24 ±0.01) vs.(0.23±0.01),3 d:(0.72±0.02) vs.(0.55±0.04),7 d:(1.08±0.04) vs.(0.84±0.04)],the differences were statistically significant (P ＜ 0.05).The expressions of KLK 8 mRNA in hippocampus of the observation group [1 d:(0.013 ±0.003),3 d:(0.032 ±0.002),7 d:(0.060 ±0.005)] were higher than the control group [1 d:(0.008 ±0.002),3 d:(0.016 ±0.002),7 d:(0.026 ±0.002)],the differences were also statistically significant (P ＜ 0.05).The serum KLK 8 concentration at 1 d,3 d,and 7 d were (5.13 ±0.24) μg/L,(6.46 ±0.24) μg/L,and (7.77 ±0.30) Iμg/L in the observation group,higher than the control group (4.73 ±0.25) μg/L,(5.65 ±0.29) μg/L,and (6.66 ±0.46) μg/L),the differences were also statistically significant (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion KLK 8 may be involved in the pathogenesis of white matter injury induced by intrauterine infection.