Up-regulation of intestinal nuclear factor kappa B and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 following traumatic brain injury in rats

AIM: Nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB) regulates a large number of genes involved in the inflammatory response to critical illnesses, but it is not known if and how NF-kB is activated and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) expressed in the gut following traumatic brain injury (TBI). The aim of current study was to investigate the temporal pattern of intestinal NF-kB activation and ICAM-1 expression following TBI. METHODS: Male Wistar rats were randomly divided into six groups (6 rats in each group) including controls with sham operation and TBI groups at hours 3, 12, 24, and 72, and on d 7. Parietal brain contusion was adopted using weight-dropping method. All rats were decapitated at corresponding time point and mid-jeJunum samples were taken. NF-kB binding activity in jejunal tissue was measured using EMSA. Immunohistochemistry was used for detection of ICAM-1 expression in jejunal samples. RESULTS: There was a very low NF-kB binding activity and little ICAM-1 expression in the gut of control rats after sham surgery. NF-kB binding activity in jejunum significantly increased by 160% at 3 h following TBI (P