化學誘導大鼠間質性膀胱炎的分子特徵比較

吳旻祐¹、余家瑩¹、張雅娟¹、陳順郎^1,2、宋文瑋^1,2,*

¹中山醫學大學醫學系；²中山醫學大學附設醫院泌尿科

Comparison of the Molecular Characteristics of Chemical-Induced Rat Interstitial Cystitis Models

Min-You Wu¹, Chia-Ying Yu¹, Ya-Chuan Chang¹, Sung-Lang Chen^1,2, Wen-Wei Sung^1,2,*

¹School of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan, 40201; ²Department of Urology, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, 40201; ^*Corresponding author

Purpose: Interstitial cystitis (IC), also known as bladder pain syndrome, is a chronic health condition that presents with bladder pain and pressure with no associated infection or identifiable pathology. The pathological changes associated with IC differ from patient to patient, with no definite conclusions for diagnosis. Several animal models have been established to manifest IC, but their molecular characteristics are not yet thoroughly evaluated.

Materials and Methods: Chemical-induced rat IC models were established with hydrochloric acid (HCl), acetic acid (AA), protamine sulfate plus lipopolysaccharide (PS+LPS), or cyclophosphamide (CYP). All treated animals underwent the indicated intervention once to induce IC and were sacrificed 14 days after induction. Pathological and molecular patterns were analyzed with specific staining and next-generation sequencing, respectively. The statistical significance of differences was set at p < 0.05.

Results: The pathological patterns showed a statistically significant thickening of the bladder epithelium for HCl-induced IC compared with the control group, but no significant change in thickness for the other treatments. Both the HCl- and AA-induced IC models had increased mast cell infiltration compared with the control, PS + LPS, and CYP groups. Only the AA-induced model showed increased collagen staining intensity. The molecular patterns indicated enriched molecular functions and biological processes of the differentially expressed genes and revealed distinct characteristics between the four groups, suggesting the uniqueness of these models.

Conclusion: We expect that our findings will improve our understanding of chemically induced rat IC models for further application or selection in basic studies.