Expression of intracellular copper zinc superoxide dismutase in human thoracic aortic dissection.

Abstract

Objective:To investigate the intracellular copper zinc superoxide dismutase (SOD-1) expression in human thoracic aortic dissection (hTAD) and its possible roles in TAD.Methods:Western blot was performed to detect the expression of SOD-1 in dissected thoracic aortas and normal controls.Immunohistochemistry was used to validate its expression and localization. Results: Western blot and immunohistochemistry showed that the SOD-1 expression decreased in TAD compared with normaI controls (P 0.05).Immunohistochemistry showed further that SOD-1 mainly Iocalized in the cytoplasm of smooth muscle cells (SMCs) in the media, disappeared in the edges of the region where the media was divulsed.Conclusion:The SOD-1 expression decreased in TAD, which could attribute to some mechanisms such as participating the lipid peroxidation and Inflammatory reaction induced by oxidative stress, in addition,the degradation of extracellular matrix(ECM).