Effects of seawater immersion combined with open abdominal injury on the expression of NF-κB,and IκBαof small intestine in rats

Objective To observe effects of seawater immersion combined with open abdominal injury on the expression of NF-κB,and IκBαas well as the change pattern in rats. Methods Ninety-one Wistar rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: the control group (n =7), the open abdominal injury group(n =42) and open abdominal injury combined with 1-hour seawater immersion group ( n =42). The expression of NF-κB,andIκBαin small intestine tissues was measured by Western blot and statistical analyses were also made in the study. Results The expression of NF-κB,in the seawater immersion combined with open abdominal injury group increased significantly 3 hours after injury, when compared with that of the open abdominal injury group(P<0. 05), whereas the expression of NF-κB, of the pure injury group was slightly lower than that of the control group, but no statistical differences could be seen between them(P>0.05). The change pattern in the expression of IκBαwas quite the opposite to that of NF-κB. Conclusions NF-κB seemed to be rapidly and persistently involved in the whole inflammatory response to trauma induced by opened abdominal injury and seawater immersion, when a comparison was made with the pure open abdominal injury group. Injuries for the rats in the open abdominal injury combined with seawater immersion group were serious, and the feedback mechanism for NF-κB was not established for quite a long time.