Altered inflammatory gene expression underlies increased susceptibility to murine postoperative ileus with advancing age
- 1 June 2007
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physiological Society in American Journal of Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology
- Vol. 292 (6), G1650-G1659
- https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpgi.00570.2006
Abstract
Susceptibility to postoperative ileus following abdominal surgery increases with advancing age. The mechanisms underlying this phenomenon are unknown. This study compares functional and molecular endpoints between young-adult (2 mo old), middle-aged (15 mo old), and elderly mice (26–30 mo old) to identify potential mechanisms. Susceptibility to ileus was assessed by measuring gastrointestinal transit (geometric center) 24 h after anesthesia, laparotomy, and light manipulation (LM) of the small bowel. Proinflammatory (IL-6, COX-2, inducible nitric oxide synthase) and anti-inflammatory (IL-10, heme oxygenase-1) gene and protein expressions were determined by real time RT-PCR, Western blot, and ELISA. LM did not alter gastrointestinal transit in young animals (geometric center = 8.8 ± 0.9), but transit was increasingly delayed in middle-aged (6.9 ± 0.8, P = 0.03) and elderly animals (4.7 ± 0.6, P = 0.013). Despite the lack of LM effect on transit in young mice, IL-6 and COX-2 mRNA expressions were significantly increased postoperatively (165 ± 24-fold and 2.9 ± 0.3-fold, respectively). Expressions were increased further in middle-aged mice (1,103 ± 187-fold; 4.4 ± 0.7-fold) and further still in elderly mice (1,218 ± 168-fold; 6.9 ± 0.3-fold). IL-10 and heme oxygenase-1 gene expressions were also elevated postoperatively in young mice (4.8 ± 0.5-fold and 13.0 ± 1.3-fold, respectively) and were further increased in middle-aged mice (7.5 ± 0.6-fold; 21.8 ± 3.2-fold). However, inductions in elderly mice were significantly blunted (5.8 ± 0.9-fold; 16.9 ± 0.8-fold). There is both an age-dependent increase in the proinflammatory mediator expression and an age-dependent decrease in anti-inflammatory mediator expressions following minor insult to the bowel. Such imbalances between pro- and anti-inflammatory mechanisms may form the basis for increased susceptibility to ileus and for the increased severity and duration of ileus observed in the elderly.Keywords
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