ABSTRACT
Objective To observe the dynamic changes of neuron-specific enolase(NSE)mRNA and protein in offspring rats brain tissue with bilirubin encephalopathy and explore the pathological mechanism and its diagnostic value on bilirubin encephalopathy.Methods Seven-day postnatal Wistar rats were used for study.One hundred and twenty rats were divided into 2 groups randomly(control group and experimental group),which were respectively subdivided into 6 groups(6,12,24,48,72,96 h).The rats in control group were intraperitoneally administered physiological saline 0.5 mL,the rats in experimental groups were intraperitoneally administered bilirubin(200 mg/kg).Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was used to analyze the dynamic changes of NSE mRNA expression at 6,12,24,48,72 and 96 h in brain tissue of rats with bilirubin encephalopathy.Immunohistochemistry was used to evaluate NSE protein expression in hippo-campi,cerebral cortex,thalamic and pallidus at different times.Results The expression of NSE mRNA significantly decreased in brain tissue of rats with bilirubin encephalopathy from 6 h to 96 h compared with the control groups.The expression of NSE protein in hippocampi decreased in offspring rats with bilirubin encephalopathy from 6 h to 96 h,but there were no differences compared with the control groups.The expression of NSE protein in cerebral cortex was significantly decreased in rats with bilirubin encephalopathy from 6 h to 96 h,there were significant differences compared with the control group.The expression of NSE protein in thalamic significantly decreased in rats with bilirubin encephalopathy from 6 h to 96 h,but there were significant differences between experimental groups and the control groups at 24 h and 72 h.The expression of NSE protein in pallidus significantly decreased in offspring rats with bilirubin encephalopathy from 6 h to 96 h,and there were significant differences compared with control groups.Conclusions The changing trends of expression of NSE mRNA were identical to those of NSE protein.NSE may reflect the degree of injury of neurogliocyte.It can serve as reliable index to determine bilirubin encephalopathy.