title: The changes of vaccinia related kinase 1 in grafted heart after rat heart transplantation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the expression and significance of vaccinia-related kinase 1 (VRK1) after rat heart transplantation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Lewis and Wistar rats weighing 250 to 300 g were used as donors and recipients. Allografts were from Wistar transplanted into Lewis, and isografts were transplanted from Lewis into Lewis. Grafts were harvested at 1, 3, 5, and 7 days after transplantation. We performed Western Blot of heart tissues after cardiac transplantation. To analyze VRK1 express between the isografts and allografts for immunohistochemical staining. At 5th day after heart transplantation use related cytokines VRK1 for immunohistochemical. We used double immunofluorescent staining on transverse cryosections of graft tissues by co-labeling with different markers, including those for VRK1, activate caspase-3, α-actinin, VCAM-1, CD4.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared with rare expression in syngeneic Lewis rat hearts, VRK1 protein level in allogeneic hearts were detected at various survival times after heterotopic heart transplantation, which observably expressed on day 5 postoperative. In addition, we examined the expression of activate caspase-3 in allogeneic hearts, which has a similar expression with VRK1. Immunohistochemical and immunofluorescent method displayed that VRK1 was widely expressed in cytoplasm of cardiac tissue and activate caspase-3 was also expressed in cardiomyocytes. However, the VRK1 wasn't express in inflammation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The VRK1 expression has increased after heart transplantation in allograft and isograft, and VRK1 may play a significant role in myocardial apoptosis after heterotopic heart transplantation in rats.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong 226001, China ; 2 Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, People's Hospital of Binhai County, Yancheng 224500, China.
authors.forename: Shiguo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong 226001, China ; 2 Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, People's Hospital of Binhai County, Yancheng 224500, China.
authors.forename: Xuechao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong 226001, China ; 2 Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, People's Hospital of Binhai County, Yancheng 224500, China.
authors.forename: Kunpeng
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong 226001, China ; 2 Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, People's Hospital of Binhai County, Yancheng 224500, China.
authors.forename: Qiangsheng
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong 226001, China ; 2 Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, People's Hospital of Binhai County, Yancheng 224500, China.
authors.forename: Yuanyuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong 226001, China ; 2 Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, People's Hospital of Binhai County, Yancheng 224500, China.
authors.forename: Jiahong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong 226001, China ; 2 Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, People's Hospital of Binhai County, Yancheng 224500, China.
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong 226001, China ; 2 Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, People's Hospital of Binhai County, Yancheng 224500, China.
authors.forename: Jiahai
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shi
keywords: Vaccinia-related kinase 1 (VRK1); apoptosis; heterotopic heart transplantation; rat