title: Changes of color and blood flow of the tongue in the mini-swine of immune hepatic injury.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate color and microvascular blood flow of the tongue in the mini-swine with immune hepatic injury.
  
  
  METHODS
  Six Chinese mini-swine for experimental use, 3 males and 3 females, were randomly divided into two groups, normal group and model group, 3 swine in each group. The swine in the model group was administrated by injection of 5 mg/kg ConA into the vein of auricular back, once every other day, 3 times each week, for 2 weeks in total. The animal in the control group was administrated with equal volume of saline. At 9 o'clock in the morning of the 15th day of the experiment, each swine was anesthetized with intramuscular injection of 9 ml 2.5% pentobarbital sodium and 3 ml Maleate, and then picture of the tongue was taken, microvascular blood flow on the tongue and the liver was detected with a laser Doppler blood flowmeter; Blood was taken from the precaval vein. Serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), total bilirubin (Tbil) and total protein (TP) were determined; Pathological changes of the liver and tongue tissues were investigated by means of HE staining; Serum TNF-alpha content was detected with ELISA assay.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the mini-swine with immune hepatic injury induced by ConA, the tongue color showed cyanotic color, microvascular perfusion in the liver and the tongue, and partial pressure of oxygen in the tongue tissue significantly decreased; and the microcirculatory perfusion of the tongue was significantly correlated with that of the liver and the HIS color spatial value of the tongue; Serum TNF-alpha content significantly increased.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The mini-swine with immune hepatic injury induced by ConA conforms to pathological characteristics of immune hepatic injury. Formation of the cyanotic tongue is related with microcirculatory disturbance of the tongue, which can indirectly reflect hepatic microcirculatory state in the immune hepatic injury.
authors.affiliation: Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China.
authors.forename: Wen-Lan
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Hong-Yue
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Nian-Cong
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Che
authors.forename: Zuo-Qing
authors.initials: ZQ
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Lian-Yin
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Gao
mesh_terms: D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000097:blood; D000818:Animals; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases / Q000097:blood; D001663:Bilirubin / Q000097:blood; D003208:Concanavalin A / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D008099:Liver / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology / Q000293:injuries* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D023421:Models, Animal; D010858:Pigmentation; D011897:Random Allocation; D012039:Regional Blood Flow; D013552:Swine; D013556:Swine, Miniature; D014059:Tongue / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D003208:Concanavalin A; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases; D000410:Alanine Transaminase; D001663:Bilirubin