NF-κB and FosB mediate inflammation and oxidative stress in the blast lung injury of rats exposed to shock waves.

Blast lung injury (BLI) is the major cause of death in explosion-derived shock waves; however, the mechanisms of BLI are not well understood. To identify the time-dependent manner of BLI, a model of lung injury of rats induced by shock waves was established by a fuel air explosive. The model was evaluated by hematoxylin and eosin staining and pathological score. The inflammation and oxidative stress of lung injury were also investigated. The pathological scores of rats' lung injury at 2 h, 24 h, 3 days, and 7 days post-blast were 9.75±2.96, 13.00±1.85, 8.50±1.51, and 4.00±1.41, respectively, which were significantly increased compared with those in the control group (1.13±0.64; P<0.05). The respiratory frequency and pause were increased significantly, while minute expiratory volume, inspiratory time, and inspiratory peak flow rate were decreased in a time-dependent manner at 2 and 24 h post-blast compared with those in the control group. In addition, the expressions of inflammatory factors such as interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, FosB, and NF-κB were increased significantly at 2 h and peaked at 24 h, which gradually decreased after 3 days and returned to normal in 2 weeks. The levels of total antioxidant capacity, total superoxide dismutase, and glutathione peroxidase were significantly decreased 24 h after the shock wave blast. Conversely, the malondialdehyde level reached the peak at 24 h. These results indicated that inflammatory and oxidative stress induced by shock waves changed significantly in a time-dependent manner, which may be the important factors and novel therapeutic targets for the treatment of BLI.

Global gene expression profiling of blast lung injury of goats exposed to shock wave.

PURPOSE: Blast lung injury (BLI) is the most common damage resulted from explosion-derived shock wave in military, terrorism and industrial accidents. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying BLI induced by shock wave are still unclear. METHODS: In this study, a goat BLI model was established by a fuel air explosive power. The key genes involved in were identified. The goats of the experimental group were fixed on the edge of the explosion cloud, while the goats of the control group were 3 km far away from the explosive environment. After successful modeling for 24 h, all the goats were sacrificed and the lung tissue was harvested for histopathological observation and RNA sequencing. Gene ontology (GO) and kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) analysis were performed to identify the main enriched biological functions of differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to verify the consistency of gene expression. RESULTS: Of the sampled goat lungs, 895 genes were identified to be significantly differentially expressed, and they were involved in 52 significantly enriched GO categories. KEGG analysis revealed that DEGs were highly enriched in 26 pathways, such as cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, antifolate resistance, arachidonic acid metabolism, amoebiasis and bile secretion, JAK-STAT, and IL-17 signaling pathway. Furthermore, 15 key DEGs involved in the biological processes of BLI were confirmed by qRT-PCR, and the results were consistent with RNA sequencing. CONCLUSION: Gene expression profiling provide a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of BLI, which will help to set strategy for treating lung injury and preventing secondary lung injury induced by shock wave.

[The retrospective survey of malignant tumor in weapon workers exposed to 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the occupational health risk level of workers exposed to 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) in arms industry, so as to provide basis for revising the standard of diagnosis for chronic TNT poisoning, and making protective measures for workers. METHODS: The retrospective study about the morbidity of total malignant tumor was taken on the male workers exposed to TNT over one year from eight military factories during 1970 to 1995. RESULTS: The morbidity of total malignant tumor in male TNT exposed workers were markedly higher than that of controls, and the relative risk (RR) was 2.32. Compared with the total malignant tumor mortality of male populations in large and medium cities in 1973 to 1975 and 1990 to 1992, the standardized mortality ratio(SMR) were 71.8 and 179.6 respectively, the CI of 99% was 71.8-144.2, indicating that the morbidity of malignant tumor of male workers exposed to TNT was higher than that of normal populations. Liver cancer morbidity was 31.91% of the total malignant tumor, and its mortality was 3.97 times of the controls. Compared with the liver cancer mortality of male populations in large and medium cities in 1973 to 1975 and 1990 to 1992, SMR were 150.5 and 381.6 respectively, these data were significantly different, and CI of 99% was 59.3-184.0. The average death age of the TNT exposed workers (51.7 years old) was younger than that of the same factory control(54.1 years old) and male populations(55.6 years old) in large and medium cities. The incidence of liver cancer was closely related to the length of service, the kinds of job in a factory and the level exposed to TNT, and alcohol consumption was synergistic with TNT carcinogenesis. CONCLUSION: The morbidity of malignant tumor of male workers exposed to TNT was markedly higher than that of normal populations. Liver cancer was the most remarkable malignancy, and its incidence was closely related to the length of service and the kinds of job and the level exposed to TNT.