Objective To investigate the methods for establishing a rat model of immunological liver injury and the change in T helper 17 cell(Th17)/regulatory T cell(Treg) imbalance in rats with immunological liver injury. Methods A total of 30 female Wistar rats were divided into acute immunological liver injury group(AC group),chronic immunological liver injury group(CC group),and healthy control group(HC group) using a random number table,with 10 rats in each group. The rats in the AC group and the CC group were given tail vein injection of α-galactosylceramide(α-GalCer) and concanavalin A(ConA) to establish a rat model,and those in the HC group were given injection of an equal volume of normal saline. The serum levels of alanine aminotransferase(ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase(AST)were measured after modeling,HE staining was used to observe liver pathological changes,and immunohistochemistry was used to measure the protein expression of Foxp3 and RORγt in the liver. Flow cytometry was used to measure the changes in the frequencies of Th17 and Treg cells in peripheral blood and spleen suspension,and Th17/Treg ratio was calculated. A one-way analysis of variance was used for comparison of continuous data between multiple groups,and the SNK-q test was used for further comparison between two groups. Results Compared with the HC group,the AC group and the CC group had significant increases in the serum levels of ALT,AST,and total bilirubin and a significant reduction in the level of albumin(F = 14. 782,20. 765,16. 088,and 74. 181,all P < 0. 001). HE staining showed that compared with the HC group,the AC group and the CC group had the changes of acute and chronic hepatocyte injury. Compared with HC group,the AC group had significant increases in the frequency of Th17 cells,the protein expression of RORγt(all P < 0. 05),the frequency of Treg cells(P < 0. 05),and Th17/Treg ratio(P < 0. 05). Compared with the HC group,the CC group had significant increases in the frequencies of Th17 and Treg cells and a significant reduction in Th17/Treg ratio(all P < 0. 05). Conclusion Both α-GalCer and ConA can be used to successfully establish a model of immunological liver injury without deaths,and the changes in liver histology and serum biochemistry are consistent with acute and chronic immune hepatitis. Th17/Treg imbalance plays an important role in inflammatory response and tis-sue damage and is closely associated with immune status and disease progression.
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