UP-REGULATION OF THE MRNA-TRANSCRIPTS OF VR1 AND NGF INDUCED BY AIR FORMALDEHYDE

摘要

The purpose of the present study was to determine gene expression pattern of chemosensitive receptor VR1 in the brain stem of the neonatal rat after low-level gaseous formaldehyde exposure. Male Sprague-Dawley newborn rats were exposed to clean air or 1.8 mg/m{sup}3 formaldehyde for consecutive 72 h and the brain stems were dissected for RNA extraction. The mRNA levels of VR1 and cytokine NGF gene were determined with semi-quantitative RT-PCR. We observed that the mRNA expression of VR1 and NGF was significantly increased in the brain of the tested neonatal rats. These findings suggest that successive formaldehyde exposure may increase cytokine NGF expression and then NGF up-regulates VR1 gene expression synchronously. This may have implications for the nervous central neuro-immunological mechanisms mediating multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), sick building syndromes (SBS), bronchial hyper-responsiveness (BHR) and asthma in humans.