Abstract

Sulfur mustard (SM) is a blister-forming agent and can cause damages in various momentous human organs. Previous studies have demonstrated that chemical and mechanical injuries of epithelial cells cause to give rise the secretion of TGF-1 and TGF-2. These cytokines play a key role in respiratory remodeling due to SM. In this study, we investigated the impact of SM on the expression level of TGF- isoforms and their receptors in vitro using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and western blotting. Our finding revealed the significant increase at concentrations of 25l/ml SM for 30min and 60min and also 100l/ml for 60min for TGF-1, 25, 50 and 100l/ml SM for 30min for TGF-r1 and after exposing with 100l/ml SM for both 30 and 60min for TGF-2 (p<0.05). Data from western blotting showed the increase of TGF-1 expression at the level of protein as the same pattern as the mRNA level. In vitro short-time exposure of fibroblast to SM can induce the expression of TGF-1, TGF-2 and TGF-R1 denoting that over-expression of TGF- isoforms and their receptors leads to differentiation and collagen production, causing in airway remodeling and fibrosis.