Study on the Mechanism of Apoptosis in the Swine Small Intestine Epithelium Treated by Heat Stress

This research was to investigate the alteration of the expression of apoptotic genes and proteins in the small intestine of swine, so as to provide the indexes of apoptosis treated by heat stress. Based on the swine heat stress model, this research detected the expression of the genes include Caspase-3 and Caspase-8 by RT-PCR, and the protein Caspase-3 by immunohistochemistry. The results showed that, compared to the control group, the gene expressions of Caspase-3 and Caspase-8 in the heat stress group improved significantly, the Caspase-3's protein expression in the head of the intestinal villi increased significantly. The result indicated that the level of apoptosis in the cells of the small intestine got higher after heat stress, especially in the head of the intestinal villi, and the extrinsic pathway was activated. This study provided the factors to evaluate the apoptotic state on the heat stress model, and furthermore, provided the drug's functional targets and evaluative factors.