Abstract:
Objective To investigate the effect of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) antagonist StemRegenin 1 (SR1) on the hematopoietic system injury of mice exposed to whole-body radiation.
Methods Fifteen C57BL/6J mice were randomized block design to three groups (n=5) in a randomized block design as follows: control, 4 Gy, 4 Gy+SR1. Mice in the 4 Gy+SR1 group were administered SR1 (50 mg/kg) by gavage from 5 d before irradiation to 5 d after irradiation. All of the mice were sacrificed on the ninth day after 4 Gy γ-ray whole-body radiation. Peripheral blood and unilateral femoral cell were harvested and tested by an automatic hematology analyzer for white blood cells (WBC), red blood cells (RBC) and bone marrow nucleated cells (BMNC) counting. The number of colony-forming units-granulocyte-macrophage (CFU-GM) was counted to assess the proliferation of bone marrow cells, and a flow cytometer was used to analyze reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels and the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase 4 (NOX4) expression of BNMC and hematopoietic stem cells (HSC). The proportion of immunocytes in peripheral blood was also checked. Student's t-test was applied to compare differences between two groups.
Results Compared with those of the 4 Gy group, the WBC ((3.060±0.650)×109/mL vs. (4.680±1.134)×109/mL, t=2.770, P<0.05) and BMNC ((28.375±6.811)×109/mL vs. (49.125±12.532)×109/mL, t=3.231, P<0.05) counts of the 4 Gy+SR1 group increased significantly. By contrast, RBC counts in the 4 Gy+SR1 group markedly decreased (t=4.301, P<0.05) compared with those in the control group. CFU-GM was higher in the 4 Gy+SR1 group than in the 4 Gy group (3.4±1.7 vs. 13.6±6.7, t=3.323, P<0.05). The ROS levels of BMNC and HSC were obviously induced by radiation but could be rescued by SR1 treatment. Compared with that in the 4 Gy group, the ROS level in the 4 Gy+SR1 group significantly decreased in BMNC (t=3.962, P<0.05) and HSC (t=2.530, P<0.05). Changes in NOX4 expression levels were consistent with those of ROS levels after radiation. The NOX4 expression of BMNC and HSC markedly decreased in the 4 Gy+SR1 group compared with that in the 4 Gy group (t=2.310, 2.848; both P<0.05). SR1 could promote immunocytes proportions. The CD3+ T cell proportion increased in the 4 Gy+SR1 group compared with that in the 4 Gy group ((8.512±3.716)% vs. (16.140±1.969)%, t=4.056, P<0.05). In addition, the B220+ cell proportion in the 4 Gy+SR1 group increased compared with that in the 4 Gy group ((0.608±0.267)% vs. (7.240±2.828)%, t=4.027, P<0.05).
Conclusion The AHR antagonist SR1 could alleviate radiation-induced hematopoietic system injury in mice.