title: Evidence for the Involvement of RhoA Signaling in the  Ethanol-Induced Increase in Intestinal Epithelial  Barrier Permeability.
abstract: In this work, we investigated the potential role of the small G protein RhoA in ethanol-induced tight junction (TJ) protein disassembly and increased intestinal epithelial barrier (IEB) permeability. Our study used Caco-2 cells as an in vitro IEB model and RhoA short hairpin RNA (shRNA) interference to establish whether RhoA plays a role in ethanol-induced TJ opening. RhoA shRNA interference partially inhibited epithelial leakage and restored normal transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER) values in the IEB. Moreover, RhoA shRNA interference prevented a shift in occludin distribution from insoluble to soluble fractions. Additionally, RhoA shRNA interference inhibited the ethanol-induced expression of zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1). Finally, RhoA shRNA interference inhibited an ethanol-induced increase in RhoA activity. The contributions of RhoA to an ethanol-induced increase in IEB permeability are associated with TJ disassembly.
authors: Department of Gastroenterology, The First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, 155 North Nanjing Street, Shenyang 110001, China. yxy@mail.cmu.edu.cn.
authors: Jing
authors: J
authors: Tong
authors: Ying
authors: Y
authors: Wang
authors: Bing
authors: B
authors: Chang
authors: Dai
authors: D
authors: Zhang
authors: Bingyuan
authors: B
authors: Wang