An investigation of the impact of acute inflammation on the antioxidant system at molecular level in rat liver tissues

Inflammation induces intracellular stress by triggering an increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS), which must be present in the cell and balance with antioxidant defense system. Acute inflammation is short-term and useful for host organisms. If inflammation continues for a long time, chronic inflammation occurs. In this case, the increased amount of ROS leads the cell into oxidative stress that stimulates many pathological conditions such as senescence, diabetes, carcinogenesis, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. In this thesis, it was aimed to examine in detail the relationship between inflammation and oxidative stress, cellular iron metabolism, carcinogenesis and epigenetic mechanisms at gene and protein level. Quantitative gene expression of inflammation markers such as Interleukin-6 and Tumor necrosis factor-alpha pro-inflammatory cytokines, was measured using qRT-PCR in liver tissues obtained from control and λ-Carragenaan induced inflammation. It was shown that our model was formed. Reduced glutathione, oxidized glutathione, malondialdehyde levels and total iron content were investigated as oxidative stress markers. Histopathological analyzes were performed to determine the presence of tissue damage. Quantitative changes in antioxidant enzymes gene expression using qRT-PCR, antioxidant enzymes protein expression using western blot method and antioxidant enzymes activity using spectroscopic techniques were measured. Also, quantitative changes in gene expression of Nuclear factor kappa B (Nfkb) and Metadherin (Mtdh) (Mtdh regulates various signaling networks in tumorigenesis and essential to Nfkb activation), Sirtuin (Sirt is member of histone deacetylase family that plays major role in maintaining genome integrity through regulation of epigenetic mechanisms) and Hepcidin (Hamp controls iron homeostasis) were measured qRT-PCR method. Keywords: Inflammation, Antioxidant System, Gene Expression, Enzyme Activity, Protein Expression