Apoptosis and Bcl-2 Expression in Irradiated Lungs and the Effect of Pentoxifylline

Österreicher, Jan; Králik, Michal; Navrátil, Leoš; Vávrová, Jiřina; Škopek, Jiří; Knížek, Jiří; Macela, Aleš

doi:10.14712/18059694.2019.98

Acta Medica > Archive > 2001, Vol. 44 > Issue 4 > Apoptosis and Bcl-2 Expression in…

Acta Med. 2001, 44: 125-130

https://doi.org/10.14712/18059694.2019.98

Apoptosis and Bcl-2 Expression in Irradiated Lungs and the Effect of Pentoxifylline

Jan Österreicher^a, Michal Králik^a, Leoš Navrátil^b, Jiřina Vávrová^a, Jiří Škopek^b, Jiří Knížek^a, Aleš Macela^a

^aPurkyně Military Medical Academy, Hradec Králové, Department of Radiobiology and Immunology, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic
^bCharles University in Prague, 1st Medical Faculty, Department of Biophysics, Prague, Czech Republic

Received September 1, 2001
Accepted November 1, 2001

We measured number of bcl-2, apoptotic, neutrophil, and surfactant apoprotein D (SP-D) positive cells in irradiated rat lungs during different time points after the sublethal whole-thorax irradiation of rats. We also investigated the influence of pentoxifylline (PTX) therapy on these markers. Wistar rats were given 15 Gy thoracic irradiation and PTX (35 mg/kg) twice a week. Animals were examined histologically and imunohistochemically at intervals from 1-12 weeks. In non-treated rats compared with treated rats, bcl-2 expression was significantly inhibited from 4 weeks after irradiation. A higher apoptosis presence in non-treated rats from 4 weeks was found and apoptosis development in PTX-treated animals was delayed and started 8 weeks after irradiation. Similar differences were measured during neutrophil granulocytes examination. Neutrophil penetration in non-treated rats was found 5 weeks after irradiation in contrast to the RP onset of PTX-treated animals 8 weeks after irradiation. The number of SP-D positive cells in non-treated rats observed until 5 weeks after irradiation was higher than in the control group. PTX-treated animals expressed higher number of SP-D positive cells during the whole experiment than the control group. We suggest that apoptosis is linked to neutrophil granulocyte actions during the RP onset and that PTX-therapy causes diminished inflammation development.