Interferon-alpha treatment for pancreatic fibrosis in rats / 中华胰腺病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the effect of interferon-alpha (IFN-α) on preventing pancreatic fibrosis and expression of pancreatic α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and collagen type m in experimental rat model induced by diethyldithiocarbamate (DDC). Methods Forty male Wistar rats were randomly divided into three groups normal control group, fibrotic group(PF group) and IFN-α prevention group(IFN-α group). Pancreatic fibrosis were induced by repeated intraperitoneal DDC injection. IFN-α group were treated with subcutaneous injection of IFN-α in saline, administered daily at the dosage of 105 U. Six weeks later, all the rats were sacrificed, the samples of the pancreatic tissue obtained by biopsy were submitted to histological studies. The expression of α-SMA and collagen type Ⅲ in pancreatic tissues were detected by immunohistochemistry. Results From the 4th week on, the weight of rats in PF group grew slowly, some rats 'weight even decreased, while the weight of rats in IFN-α group kept growing up slowiy, and the difference became significant at the 5th week (306.17±20.89 g vs 279.17±23.58 g, P＜0.05 ). The fibrosis score, Masson stain score, α-SMA and pancreatic collagen type Ⅲ in PF group were 2.679±0.899, 218. 713± 36. 102, 148.971±30. 686 and 88. 142±42.581, respectively, and the corresponding values in PF group were 1.952±0.219, 114.732±24.912, 77.237±9.275 and 59.952±25.498, respectively. The extent of fibrosis in IFN-α group was significantly better than that in PF group (P＜0.05). Conclusions IFN-α may inhibit the extent of fibrosis, decrease the expression of α-SMA and pancreatic collagen type Ⅲ, therefore, it may partially prevent pancreatic fibrosis induced by DDC.