[Damage on paracellular pathway and effect on tight junction protein claudin-4 in rat parotid glands caused by...

To investigate the effect and the potential mechanism of ionizing radiation on secretory function and tight junction (TJ) protein claudin-4 in paracellular pathway of rat parotid glands.

Twenty four 8-week-old male Wistar rats were randomly divided into one control group(n=6) and three irradiation groups (i.e., 1-week group post-irradiation, 4-week group post-irradiation, and 12-week group post-irradiation, 6 rats in each group). The experimental glands of irradiation groups were exposed to X-radiation in one-time single doses of 20 Gy. The residual salivary secretion of parotid glands was measured by Schirmer's test. The pathological changes of gland tissues were observed under light microscope after hematoxylin-eosin(H-E) staining. The changes of TJs ultrastructure were observed under transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Immunofluorescence staining and Western blot were used to detect the expression levels of muscarinic acetylcholine M3 subtype receptor, aquaporin 5 (AQP5), and claudin-4 proteins. The experimental results were analyzed with SPSS 23.0 software package for one-way analysis of variance.

The residual salivarysecretion of irradiation group glands at 1, 4, and 12 weeks after irradiation was reduced compared with that of the control group(P<0.05), and the residual salivary secretion of irradiation group at 12 weeks was significantly lower than that at 4 weeks(P<0.05). Histologically, the dilation and congestion of interstitial vessels were observed at early stage after irradiation, and significant reduced number of acinar cells was found at late stage(P<0.05). In the irradiation groups, the ultrastructures of TJ were fuzzy, the electron density was decreased, and the TJ width at 1, 4, and 12 weeks was reduced compared with that in the control group. Immunofluorescence staining and Western blot indicated that the protein expression levels of M3 and AQP5 were down-regulated; however, the protein expression levels of claudin-4 were significantly increased at 1, 4, and 12 weeks after irradiation.

After ionizing radiation, decreased secretory function of paracellular pathway, alterations in TJ structures, and up-regulation of claudin-4 expression may be involved in the mechanism of hyposecretion in rat parotid glands after irradiation.