ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the alteration of the cytoskeleton of airway smooth muscle cells in young asthmatic rats with airway remodeling and the effect of RhoA/ROCK signal pathway.Methods Airway smooth muscle cells (ASMCs) were primary cultured and purified from Sprague-Dawley(SD) rats that were induced by ovalbumin (OVA) inhalation for 8w,then incubated by Pho kinase inhibitor Y27632.Real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR),Western blot,and immunohistochemistry were used to measure the alteration of F-actin,and α-tubulin in the cytoskeleton of airway smooth muscle.Results (1) The asthma group showed a high average gray value of F-actin in ASMC than control groups,especially 8 weeks;and were significantly down in the group after adding Y27632(P ＜0.01).(2) The intension and intensity of fluorescence signal of α-tubulin in asthma groups in 8 weeks were higher than control greup(P ＜0.01),and were significantly decreased in Y27632 group.(3) A higher expression of α-tubulin protein was shown in the asthma group in 8 weeks relative to control group(P ＜0.01),and was significantly down-regulated in Y27632 group(P ＜0.05).Conclusions Alteration of the cytoskeleton of airway smooth muscle exists in young asthmatic rats and the RhoA/ROCK signal pathway possibly plays a significant role.
ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the effects of azithromycin on airway remodeling and the expression of transforming growth factorβ1 (TGF-β1) in asthmatic mice.Methods BALB/c male mice were random divided into 3 groups:control group(A),asthma group (B),and azithromycin treated group (C),with 10 mice in each group.Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid was collected to count the number of white blood cells and eosinophilic granulocytes EOS.The morphological parameters of the bronchi were measured by computer image analysis and the pathologic changes of the bronchi and lung tissue were observed by HE staining.The expressions of TGF-β1 were detected by immunohistochemistry.Results The number of EOS in B group was significantly higher than that in control group(8.12 ±0.54 vs 0.70 ±0.40;8.12 ±0.54 vs 0.87 ±0.25,P ＜0.01).WAt and WAi and WAm in group C was significantly lower than that in group B (10.15 ±0.95 vs 15.36 ±0.85,4.16 ±0.32 vs 10.64 ± 1.03,3.77 ±0.15 vs 7.97 ±0.17,P ＜0.01)but higher than that in group A.The expression of TGF-β1 in group C was significantly lower than that in group B but higher than that in group A.TGF-β1 expression of lung tissue in C group was significantly correlated with EOS,(r =0.840,P ＜0.01) and WAt(r =0.735,P ＜0.01) and WAm (r =0.870,P ＜0.01).Conclusion Azithromycin inhibited airway remodeling in asthmatic mice,which might possibly be achieved through inhibiting the expression of TGF-β1.