Expression and significance of TNF-α in intestine tissue of mice irradiated by neutron and γ rays / 解放军医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the expression of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) in the intestine of mice irradiated by neutron and γ rays.Methods 350 male BALB/c mice were irradiated with neutron and γ rays of different doses, and sacrificed at 6 and 12hours, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 14, 21 and 28 days after irradiation.The TNF-α in the mice intestinal tissue was detected by means of immunohistochemistry and image analysis.Results In normal control mice, TNF-α was expressed in the cytoplasm of macrophages in intestinal villus interstitium, submucosa and lymph tissue.After 2.5Gy neutron radiation, TNF-α was decreased progressively within 2 days, increased obviously in macrophages and crypt cells during 3rd～7th day, reached the peak at 5th day and recovered to normal level at 14th day and TNF-α was decreased progressively within 4 days after 4.0 and 5.5Gy neutron and 12Gy ray irradiation.TNF-α was increased obviously in 6～12 hours, decreased at 1st day, increased at 2nd～5th day, peaked at 3rd day and recovered at 10th day after 5.5Gy ray irradiation.Conclusion Neutron and ray radiation induce different expression profile of endogenous TNF-α in small intestine, which may be related with the pathologic courses of irradiation-induced damage and repair of intestine.