EFFECTS OF TRANSPORT STRESS ON THE INTESTINES INVOLVING NEURONAL NITRIC OXIDE SYNTHASE

Highlights

● Transport stress declined the level of leukocytes including lymphocytes in rat serum.

● Transport stress destroyed intestinal integrity of rat.

● The muscular layer thickness of intestine was decreased after transport stress.

● nNOS expression and nNOS-positive neurons were reduced in rat after transport stress.

Abstract

Transport stress is commonly suffered by animals with gastrointestinal dysfunction a common symptom. Currently, the mechanisms of transport stress-induced intestine impairment are largely unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of transport stress on the expression of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) and the distribution of nNOS-positive neurons of the intestines in rats and to explore the neuroendocrine mechanism of transport stress. In this study, Sprague Dawley rats (n = 6) were subjected on a constant temperature shaker for 1 (S1d) or 3 d (S3d). Rats exhibited increased serum glucose and diminished total number of leukocytes, in which lymphocytes level was also decreased in the S1d group (P < 0.05). Also, normal intestinal morphology was disrupted in the S1d rats, and the thickness of muscle layers was decreased in duodenum, jejunum and colon of S3d rats. In addition, it was found that nNOS expression, as well as the number of nNOS-positive neurons in the myenteric plexus were downregulated in duodenum, jejunum and colon of S3d rats compared with that of unstressed rats (P < 0.05). These data reveals that transport stress induced intestinal damage and uncovers potential action mechanisms that nNOS-positive neurons and nNOS expression might be involved in modulating this process.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

intestine / nNOS / nNOS-positive neurons / transport stress

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31772686 and 31502025) and the National Twelve-Five Technological Supported Plan of China (2011BAD34B01).

Compliance with ethics guidelines

Jing Lan, Tonghui Ma, Peng Yin, Kedao Teng, and Yunfei Ma declare that they have no conflicts of interest or financial conflicts to disclose. All applicable institutional and national guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed. The protocols used in this study conformed to the Guide to Laboratory Animals developed by the Ministry of Science and Technology. All procedures involving animals were approved by the Committee for the Care and Use of Experimental Animals, China Agricultural University (Beijing, China).

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

The Author(s) 2022. Published by Higher Education Press. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)