Expression patterns and action analysis of the genes related to humoral immune response during rat liver regeneration

Objective. The aim of this project was to study humoral immune response after partial hepatectomy (PH) at transcriptional level. Methods. The genes involved in humoral immunity were obtained through the database data and the reference to the related thesis, and the gene expression changes in rat regenerating liver after PH were checked by Rat Genome 230 2.0 Array. Results. 67 genes were found to be associated with liver regeneration (LR). The initial and total expressing gene number occurring in initial phase of LR (0.5 – 4 h after PH), G0/G1 transition (4 – 6 h after PH), cell proliferation (6 – 66 h after PH), cell differentiation and structure-functional reconstruction (66 – 168 h after PH) were 23, 8, 38, 6 and 23, 18, 59, 44 respectively, illustrating that the associated genes were triggered mainly in initiation phase, and worked at different stages. The expression similarity of these genes were classified into only up-regulated, predominantly up-, only down-, predominantly downand equally upand down-, involving 26, 5, 23, 6 and 7 genes, respectively, and the total frequencies of up-regulation and down-regulation of these genes were 150 and 169, demonstrating that the up-regulated genes were slightly fewer than the down-regulated ones in number. Their time relevance was classified into 14 groups, showing that the cellular physiological and biochemical activities were staggered during LR. The expression patterns of them were classified into 20 types, demonstrating that the above activities were diverse and complicated during rat LR. Conclusion. The processes of antigen presentation and recognition were enhanced mainly in the forepart, late-metaphase and anaphase during LR; the level of immunocyte activation was increased mainly in the forepart and prophase; the enhancement of complement activation occurred in the forepart and anaphase. [Life Science Journal. 2007; 4(3): 49 – 56] (ISSN: 1097 – 8135).