Effect Of The Electrical Stimulation Of Nucleus Ambiguus On The Expression Of IL-2, IFN-γ In Rats With TNBS-induced Colitis

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a group of unknown etiology, chronic inflammatory diseases involving in the gastrointestinal tract, including ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD). The distribution of IBD is world-wide, and it seriously endangers health, and the incidence rate is increasing recently. The etiology and pathogenesis of IBD are not very clear yet. The majority of researches suggest that IBD is a kind of autoimmune disease caused by the interaction of many factors. Among all of these, immunity plays a vital role in the occurrence and development of IBD. Many datas show that its pathogenesis is auto-immune abnormality referring to a variety of cytokines, eventually resulting in tissue damage. The imbalance of Th1/Th2 immune response and the imbalance between pro-inflammatory cytokines and anti-inflammatory cytokines play an important role in the pathogenesis of IBD. IL-2 and IFN-γare pro-inflammatory cytokines mainly secreted by Th1 cells and have wide role in immuno-regulation and play a significant role during the regulation of cytokine network..Nerve, endocrine and immunity form a complex and wide regulating network, named neuro-endocrine-immune regulatory network, which controls the body's various movement, and maintains homeostasis of the body. When the homeostasis is disrupted, it will lead to certain diseases and the emergence of pathological process. Neuro-endocrine-immune disorder is a common characteristic of all diseases, and immune disorders occupy the leading position. Concerning immunoregulation participated by the central nervous system(CNS), many researches are concentrated in the hypothalamus and other senior centers, while the study about nucleus ambiguus(Amb) is less. Amb, belonging to nucleus nervi vagi, is a special nervus visceralis motor nucleus. It lies in oblongata ventrolateral formatio reticularis and involves a variety of neurons. Amb is connected with CNS and periphery orgns widely and plays an important role in T-cell mediated immunity. Above all, Amb plays a key role in the neuro-endocrine-immuno-regulatory network.Since the occurrence and development of IBD are closely related to T cells and their cytokines, Amb play an important role in regulating T-cell-mediated immunity. Then whether the connections between Amb and IBD exist, and how NA plays the role in IBD hasn't been reported. To discuss the connections among IL-2, IFN-γ, IBD and Amb, the regulatory role of Amb to IL-2, IFN-γin IBD were studied from the view of the nerve-endocrine-immune network and the immune homeostasis regulation.So we made use of TNBS-induced rats as models and the technology of Amb localization, to detect the effect of acute electric stimulation Amb of rats with TNBS-induced colitis on the levels of IL-2, IFN-γmRNA in colon, thymus, spleen and lymphocytes by Real-time PCR and on the concentration of these cytokines in serum by ELISA. The results showed that acute electric stimulation Amb of rats from TNBS-induced colitis will influence on the mRNA levels and the concentration of these cytokines. The levels of IL-2 mRNA in colon, thymus, spleen and peripheral-blood lymphocyte, the levels of IFN-γmRNA in colon, spleen and peripheral-blood lymphocyte were all significantly increased following effective Amb stimulation in rats with TNBS-induced colitis compared to those sham-stimulated and control rats.But the level of IFN-γmRNA in thymus was obviously decreased following effective Amb stimulation in rats with TNBS-induced colitis compared to those sham-stimulated and control rats. The concentration of the two cytokines in serum were all increased following effective Amb stimulation in rats with TNBS-induced colitis compared to those sham-stimulated and control rats. This results reveal that neuro-endocrine-immune regulatory network participate in the occurrence ang development of IBD, Amb has a certain regulation to IBD in some extent by varying the expression of IBD-related cytokines IL-2, IFN-γ, and mediates the occurrence and development of IBD. The results provide an experimental basis to further explore the links between the occurrence and development of IBD and nerve-endocrine-immune network, and may provide new ideas to the prevention and treatment of IBD.