Department of Radiation Medicine, Faculty of Preventive Medicine, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, China.
Toxicol Lett. 2010 Jul 15;196(3):154-60. doi: 10.1016/j.toxlet.2010.04.011. Epub 2010 Apr 20.
The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is critical to maintain cerebral homeostasis. In this study, we examined the effects of exposure to electromagnetic pulse (EMP) on the functional integrity of BBB and, on the localization and expression of tight junction (TJ) proteins (occludin and ZO-1) in rats. Animals were sham or whole-body exposed to EMP at 200 kV/m for 400 pulses. The permeability of BBB in rat cerebral cortex was examined by using Evans Blue (EB) and lanthanum nitrate as vascular tracers. The localization and expression of TJ proteins were assessed by western blot and immunofluorescence analysis, respectively. The data indicated that EMP exposure caused: (i) increased permeability of BBB, and (ii) altered localization as well as decreased levels of TJ protein ZO-1. These results suggested that the alteration of ZO-1 may play an important role in the disruption of tight junctions, which may lead to dysfunction of BBB after EMP exposure.
血脑屏障（BBB）对于维持脑内环境稳态至关重要。在这项研究中，我们研究了暴露于电磁脉冲（EMP）对 BBB 功能完整性的影响，以及对紧密连接（TJ）蛋白（occludin 和 ZO-1）在大鼠中的定位和表达的影响。动物接受 EMP 全身照射，场强为 200 kV/m，脉冲数为 400 个。使用 Evans Blue（EB）和硝酸镧作为血管示踪剂检测大鼠大脑皮质 BBB 的通透性。通过 Western blot 和免疫荧光分析分别评估 TJ 蛋白的定位和表达。结果表明，EMP 暴露导致：（i）BBB 通透性增加，（ii）TJ 蛋白 ZO-1 的定位改变和水平降低。这些结果表明，ZO-1 的改变可能在紧密连接的破坏中起重要作用，这可能导致 EMP 暴露后 BBB 功能障碍。
