Expression of Zonula Occludens-1 in Cerebral Cortex Following Traumatic Brain Injury / 法医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To observe the time-course expression of zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1) in cerebral cortex after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Methods The TBI model of mouse was established. The mice were divided in 1 h, 3 h, 6 h, 12 h, 24 h, 3 d, 7 d after TBI, shamand control groups. The permeability of the blood brain barrier was evaluated by measuring the extravasation of Evans blue (EB) dye. The expression of Z O-1 in cerebral cortex in the injured area was detected by western blotting and im-munohistochemistry. Results The extravasation of EBdye of injured cortex gradually increased from 1 h, peaked at 1-3 d and approximately decreased to normal at 7 d after TBI. western blotting revealed that the expression of Z O-1 gradually decreased after 1 h, was at the lowest at 1-3 d, and then significantly increased after 7 d but was still lower than that of normal and shamgroups. The result of immunohisto-chemistry showed that Z O-1 had strong expression in vessel of normal cortex, gradually decreased after TBI, and almost disappeared at 3 d after TBI and gradually recovered to normal level later. Conclusion The expression of Z O-1 in the injured cortex after TBI initially decreases and then increases. The nega-tive correlation between Z O-1 expression and EBextravasation after TBI could be used as a newindi-cator for wound age estimation.