Abstract: Objective To investigate the effect of chronic alcohol ingestion on lung interstitial tissue by detecting TGF-β1 and bFGF mRNA expression of lung tissue. Methods 20 male healthy Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into non-ethanol(substitution of Maltose-Dextrin for EtOH) group(n=10) and ethanol(36% total calories) group(n=10). Lung tissues were extracted of all rats at 16 weeks after Lieber-DeCarli liquid diet. Histological change of lungs was evaluated by HE stain and transmission electron microscope(TEM).The mRNAs of transforming growth factor beta 1(TGF-β1) and basic fibroblast growth factor(bFGF) were detected by real time fluorescent quantitation polymerase chain reaction. Results In light microscope, the pulmonary inflammatory cell infiltrate score of alcohol group was significantly higher than that of the control group(Z=50， P<0.05). In TEM, mitochondrial membrane fused and fuzzy structure and collagen fiber deposition in cell compartment in different level were observed in alcohol group. The mRNA expressions of TGF-β1 and bFGF (34.74.±12.29,218.08±100.37) of alcohol group were both significantly increased compared with those of the control group(18.33±4.27,90.52±43.38,t=3.702,3.487,all p<0.05) Conclusion These findings suggested that chronic alcohol intake not only can cause alveolitis but also can cause lung interstitium disease by increasing the mRNA expressions of TGF-β1 and bFGF.

Key words: lung diseases, interstitial ethanol transforming growth factor beta1fibroblast growth factors rats, Sprague-Dawley