Expression of Interleukin-17 in Lung and Peripheral Blood of Asthmatic Rats and the Influence of Dexamethasone

• Published in: Journal of Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Medical sciences Vol. 27; no. 5; pp. 498 - 500
• Main Author: 熊维宁 曾大雄 徐永健 方慧娟 曾勇 宋青凤 曾超
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: China Department of Respiratory Medicine, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology,Wuhan 430030, China 01.10.2007
• Subjects: Animals; Asthma - chemically induced; Asthma - drug therapy; Asthma - metabolism; Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid - chemistry; Dexamethasone - therapeutic use; Interleukin-17 - blood; Interleukin-17 - genetics; Interleukin-17 - metabolism; Lung - metabolism; Male; Ovalbumin; Random Allocation; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; RNA, Messenger - blood; RNA, Messenger - genetics; RNA, Messenger - metabolism; 内白细胞素-17; 发病机理; 周围血管; 地塞米松; 支气管哮喘; pathogenesis; bronchial asthma; interleukin-17
• ISSN: 1672-0733; 1993-1352
• DOI: 10.1007/s11596-007-0505-3

The expression of interleukin-17 （IL-17） in lung and peripheral blood of asthmatic rats and the influence of dexamethasone, and the role of IL-17 in the pathogenesis of asthma were investigated. Thirty Sprague-Dawley （SD） adult rats were randomly divided into three groups （n=10 in each group）： normal group, asthmatic group, and dexamethasone-interfered group. Rat asthmatic model was established by intraperitoneal （i.p.） injection of 10% ovalbumin （OVA） and challenge with 1% OVA via inhalation. Rats in dexamethasone-interfered group were pretreated with dexamethasone （2 mg/kg, i.p.） 30 min before each challenge. The expression of IL-17 protein in serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid （BALF） was detected by ELISA. The expression of IL-17 mRNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells （PBMC） and BALF cells was semi-quantitatively detected by RT-PCR. The expression of IL-17 protein in serum and BALF of asthmatic rats was significantly elevated as compared with normal rats and dexamethsone-interfered rats （P〈0.01）, and there was significant difference between normal rats and dexamethsone-interfered rats （P〈0.05）. The expression of IL-17 mRNA in PBMC and BALF cells of asthmatic rats was markedly increased as compared with normal rats and dexamethsone-interfered rats （P〈0.01）, and significant difference was found between normal rats and dexamethsone-interfered rats （P〈0.05）. It was concluded that the expression of IL-17 was increased significantly in asthmatic rats and could be inhibited partly by dexamethasone, suggesting that IL-17 might play an important role in the pathogenesis of asthma as an inflammation regulation factor.