Exogenous administration of zinc chloride improves lung ischemia/reperfusion injury in rats.
- Author:
Shu-Yuan WANG
1
;
Jun-Peng XU
2
;
Yuan CHENG
2
;
Man HUANG
2
;
Si-An CHEN
2
;
Zhuo-Lun LI
2
;
Qi-Hao ZHANG
2
;
Yong-Yue DAI
2
;
Li-Yi YOU
3
;
Wan-Tie WANG
2
Author Information
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- MeSH: Animals; Reperfusion Injury/pathology*; Male; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Rats; Chlorides/administration & dosage*; Lung/pathology*; Zinc Compounds/administration & dosage*; Apoptosis/drug effects*; Caspase 3/metabolism*; Cation Transport Proteins/metabolism*
- From: Acta Physiologica Sinica 2025;77(5):811-819
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
- Abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate the contribution of lung zinc ions to pathogenesis of lung ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in rats. Male Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into control group, lung I/R group (I/R group), lung I/R + low-dose zinc chloride group (LZnCl2+I/R group), lung I/R + high-dose ZnCl2 group (HZnCl2+I/R group), lung I/R + medium-dose ZnCl2 group (MZnCl2+I/R group) and TPEN+MZnCl2+I/R group (n = 8 in each group). Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used to measure the concentration of zinc ions in lung tissue. The degree of lung tissue injury was analyzed by observing HE staining, alveolar damage index, lung wet/dry weight ratio and lung tissue gross changes. TUNEL staining was used to detect cellular apoptosis in lung tissue. Western blot and RT-qPCR were used to determine the protein expression levels of caspase-3 and ZIP8, as well as the mRNA expression levels of zinc transporters (ZIP, ZNT) in lung tissue. The mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) of lung tissue was detected by JC-1 MMP detection kit. The results showed that, compared with the control group, the lung tissue damage, lung wet/dry weight ratio and alveolar damage index were significantly increased in the I/R group. And in the lung tissue, the concentration of Zn2+ was markedly decreased, while the cleaved caspase-3/caspase-3 ratio and apoptotic levels were significantly increased. The expression levels of ZIP8 mRNA and protein were down-regulated significantly, while the mRNA expression of other zinc transporters remained unchanged. There was also a significant decrease in MMP. Compared with the I/R group, both MZnCl2+I/R group and HZnCl2+I/R group exhibited significantly reduced lung tissue injury, lung wet/dry weight ratio and alveolar damage index, increased Zn2+ concentration, decreased ratio of cleaved caspase-3/caspase-3 and apoptosis, and up-regulated expression levels of ZIP8 mRNA and protein. In addition, the MMP was significantly increased in the lung tissue. Zn2+ chelating agent TPEN reversed the above-mentioned protective effects of medium-dose ZnCl2 on the lung tissue in the I/R group. The aforementioned results suggest that exogenous administration of ZnCl2 can improve lung I/R injury in rats.
