Effect of seawater immersion on the NF-B, IB and TLR4 expression in small intestinal tissues in rats with abdominal open injury

The aim of this study was to observe the impact of seawater immersion on the dynamic expressions of NF-κB and IκB mRNA in small intestinal tissues in rats with abdominal open injury. Wistar rats were randomly divided into three groups: the control group (n = 7), the abdominal open injury (AOI) group and abdominal open injury plus seawater immersion (AOI+SI) group. The dynamic expressions of NF-κB and IκB mRNA in small intestinal tissueswere detected in each group/subgroup by real-time PCR method. After 72 h, NF-κB mRNAlevel of AOI+SI group was increased obviously compared to that of AOI group (P 72 h), the NF-κB mRNA expression was significantly up-regulated, which promoted the synthesis of NF-κB protein and further magnified NF-κB signal pathways to lead to the development of continued inflammatory course ultimately; meanwhile, the obviously up-regulated IκB-α mRNA level increased the expression of IκB-α protein to down-regulate the activity of NF-κb as much as possible.   Key words: Abdominal open injury, seawater immersion, real-time PCR, NF-κB, IκB.