Original Article
Copyright ©2012 Baishideng Publishing Group Co., Limited. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jun 21, 2012; 18(23): 2914-2928
Published online Jun 21, 2012. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v18.i23.2914
Proteome profiling of spinal cord and dorsal root ganglia in rats with trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid-induced colitis
Xiao-Jun Zhang, Feung Ping Leung, Wendy WL Hsiao, Shun Tan, Shao Li, Hong-Xi Xu, Joseph JY Sung, Zhao-Xiang Bian
Xiao-Jun Zhang, Feung Ping Leung, Wendy WL Hsiao, Shun Tan, Zhao-Xiang Bian, School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China
Shao Li, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Bioinformatics and Bioinformatics Division, TNLIST/Department of Automation, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Hong-Xi Xu, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200032, China
Joseph JY Sung, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Author contributions: Xu HX, Sung JJY and Bian ZX designed the research; Zhang XJ, Hsiao WWL and Tan S performed the research; Zhang XJ wrote the paper, Leung FP and Li S provided helpful suggestions and revised the paper.
Supported by The Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, RGC-HKBU2/07C; and The Hong Kong Jockey Club Institute of Chinese Medicine, JCICM4-07
Correspondence to: Zhao-Xiang Bian, MD, PhD, Professor, School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China. bzxiang@hkbu.edu.hk
Telephone: +86-852-34112905 Fax: +86-852-34112929
Received: August 15, 2011
Revised: September 24, 2011
Accepted: April 12, 2012
Published online: June 21, 2012
Abstract

AIM: To investigate proteomic changes in spinal cord and dorsal root ganglia (DRG) of rats with trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS)-induced colitis.

METHODS: The colonic myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) level were determined. A two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE)-based proteomic technique was used to profile the global protein expression changes in the DRG and spinal cord of the rats with acute colitis induced by intra-colonic injection of TNBS.

RESULTS: TNBS group showed significantly elevated colonic MPO activity and increased TNF-α level. The proteins derived from lumbosacral enlargement of the spinal cord and DRG were resolved by 2-DE; and 26 and 19 proteins that displayed significantly different expression levels in the DRG and spinal cord were identified respectively. Altered proteins were found to be involved in a number of biological functions, such as inflammation/immunity, cell signaling, redox regulation, sulfate transport and cellular metabolism. The overexpression of the protein similar to potassium channel tetramerisation domain containing protein 12 (Kctd 12) and low expression of proteasome subunit α type-1 (psma) were validated by Western blotting analysis.

CONCLUSION: TNBS-induced colitis has a profound impact on protein profiling in the nervous system. This result helps understand the neurological pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease.

Keywords: Inflammatory bowel disease, Trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid, Two-dimensional electrophoresis-based proteomic technique, Dorsal root ganglia, Spinal cord