Dynamic change of epidermal growth factor in neonatal rat with intestine injury

To determine whether diminished levels of epidermal growth factor (EGF) were present in neo-natal rats with intestinal injury and related with the degree of intestinal injury, so we modeled a model in neo-natal rats of intestinal injury and to examine the dynamic levels of EGF on injury of intestine.

One-day-old Wistar rat pups received an intraperitoneally injection with 4 mg/kg lipopolysaccharide (LPS), followed by collection of ileum tissue at 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 h following LPS administration. The ileum was for histological evaluation of NEC and for measurements of EGF using ABC-ELISA. The correlation between the degree of intestinal injury and levels of EGF was determined.

The LPS-injected pups also showed a significant increase in injury scores at 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 h (respectively, (1.08+/-0.61), (1.63+/-0.84), (1.95+/-0.72), (2.42+/-0.43) and (2.21+/-0.53)) vs the control (0.12+/-0.17) (P<0.01). EGF levels at 1, 3, 6, 12 h (respectively, (245.6+/-49.0), (221.4+/-39.0), (223.4+/-48.1), (246.0+/-46.6)) pg/mg were significantly loss than the control (275.6+/-50.4) pg/mg (P<0.05). There was a significant negative correlation between the EGF levels and the grade of intestinal injury within 24 h (P<0.05).

Neo-natal rats with intestinal injury have significantly lower levels of ileum EGF. Reduced levels of this growth factor might be related to the pathogenesis of NEC.