title: Study on relationship between the thickness of tongue fur and the expressions of apoptosis-related genes of the tongue epithelial cells in patients with diseases of the digestive system.
abstract: To investigate the relationship between the thickness of tongue fur, apoptosis of the tongue fur epithelial cells and expressions of apoptosis-related genes in diseases of the digestive system, apoptosis-related genes TGF-beta3, fas mRNA and protein products were detected with terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated deoxyurine triphosphate (d-UTP) nick-end labeling (TUNEL) technique, in situ hybridization, immunohistochemical methods, and image analysis technique, respectively. Results indicated that compared with the normal tongue fur, over-expression of fas gene was found in the peeling fur with an increase in cell apoptosis, while a low-expression of TGF-beta3 in the thick fur with a decrease in cell apoptosis. The changes in expression levels of fas and TGF-beta3 genes, apoptosis-promoting genes in the tongue fur epithelial cells, had a similar tendency of cell apoptosis level. It is concluded that the changes in expression levels of fas and TGF-beta3 are possibly important reasons influencing apoptosis of epithelial cells of tongue fur and leading to changes in thickness of the tongue fur.
authors: Shenzhen Clinical Institute of Chinese Medicine Integrated with Western Medicine, Shenzhen Nanfang Medical University, Shenzhen 518031, China.
authors: Zhengzhi
authors: Z
authors: Wu
authors: Ming
authors: M
authors: Li
authors: Yongfeng
authors: Y
authors: Zhang
authors: Manyin
authors: M
authors: Chen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D017209:Apoptosis; D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004066:Digestive System Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D053222:Fas Ligand Protein / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D008875:Middle Aged; D014059:Tongue / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D053782:Transforming Growth Factor beta3 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins; D053222:Fas Ligand Protein; D053782:Transforming Growth Factor beta3