Intestinal fatty acid-binding protein expression in the intestinal tissue and clinical significance in neonatal rats with necrotizing enterocolitis / 中国新生儿科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the expression of intestinal intestinal fatty acid-binding protein (I-FABP) and its clinical significance in an experimental model of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) in neonatal rats. Method Twenty-four neonatal Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly assigned into 4 groups at 48 h after birth (6 rats in each group)group A (control group), group B (NEC group-1), group C (NEC group-2), and group D (NEC group-3). The neonatal rats were fed by the mother rats in the same cage within 48 h after birth. After 48 h, the NEC group received artificial feeding, hypoxia, cold stimulation and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) gavage (10 mg/kg). NEC group-1, 2 and 3 were sacrificed on an empty stomach at 1, 2 and 3 d after the modeling. The control group was sacrificed on an empty stomach 3 d after the modeling without special treatment. Intestinal tissue were obtained from each rats. The histological changes of ileal tissues were studied using hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining. The expressions of intestinal I-FABP were detected using RT-PCR and ELISA methods. Result Compared with the control group, body weight of rats in NEC group-1, 2 and 3 were lower, and pathology scores in these three groups were higher (P<0.05). The levels of intestinal I-FABP mRNA in NEC group-1, NEC group-2 and NEC group-3 were 2.69±0.27, 2.12±0.09, 3.18± 0.22, respectively. The protein expression levels were 363.7 ± 11.4, 321.7 ± 45.8, 432.3 ± 50.3, respectively. The mRNA and protein levels were all significantly higher than the control group (mRNA 1.00 ± 0.02, protein 134.2 ± 24.0, P<0.05). Conclusion I-FABP was a useful marker for ischemic injury to the intestine. These findings may contribute to a better diagnosis of NEC in newborns.