Study On The Combined Injuries Induced By Sulfur Mustard Intoxication And Burn On Rats Small Intestine

Sulfur mustard, the widely used vesicant by foreign armed forces, has been demonstrated to be transformed into a reactive sulfonium electrophile which, in turn, can be attached to various biomolecules such as proteins, nucleotieds and enzymes. Consequent to these changes, a systemic toxicity is always the most important out put of mustard after absorption and distribution from its local contaminating area of the body. Among the sensitive organs and tissues to mustard, the small intestine has been regarded as the most vulnerable one because of its importancy in maintaining the balance of the internal environment. Previous reports described that intestinal mucous membrane barrier could be damaged after burn, which was the primary factor of infection development in intenstine and leading to death. In the modern war, the opportunity of multi-weapon attack will be high and the combined injuries of SM and burn will bring more difficulties to cure. However, there wasn't any report about the damage on intestine induced by this kind of injury.Objective: Using the small intestine of rats as a main target, we investigate the early injury of small intestine in rats administrated with burn, SM or SM plus burn, and hope to understand the mechanisms of toxic action of SM or SM plus burn on the intestine. Searching for pharmacological protection of NAC, a scavenger of oxygen free radical, on intestinal mucous membrane damaged by burn, SM or SM plus burn and offering more theory about the diagnosis, prevention and cure measure.Method:â‘´Establishing a in vivo model of rats damaged by burn, SM or SM plus burn. The LD50 value of sulfur mustard was determined by modified Karber's method. (2)Using HE stain, transmission electron microscope, immunohistochemistry, spectrophotometry, RT-PCR, and changing of morphology, ultrastructure and permeability of the small intestine, apoptosis on the intestinal epithelium, oxidative/deoxidative state in rats post-injury treated or un-treated with NAC were observed.Results: (1) The LD50 values of SM under the conditions of single intoxication and...