The expression change of histone H4 acetylation in TCDD-induced cleft palates formation in fetal mice

Objective To evaluate the expression of histone H4 acetylation(Ac-H4) during the cleft palates formation induced by 2, 3, 7, 8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin(TCDD) in C57BL/6J mice. Methods Forty-eight pregnant C57BL/6J mice were completely randomly divided into two groups: ① TCDD group, mice were treated with 20ug/kg of TCDD on gestation day (GD) 10.5 by gastric perfusion; ② control group, mice were treated with an equivalent of corn oil. The head samples were collected and sliced in coronal plane on GD13.5, GD14.5 and GD15.5 respectively. Histone H4 acetylation in the palates were evaluated by immunohistochemical staining and Western Blot in the two groups. Results Histone H4 acetylation was mainly expressed in the palatal epithelial cells and slightly expressed in mesenchymal cells. The expression level of histone H4 acetylation was 0.6002±0.2530, 0.9180±0.0941 and 0.8966±0.0908 respectively in control group on GD13.5, GD14.5 and GD15.5; while 1.0229±0.2779, 1.6095±0.2651 and 1.2758±0.1251 in TCDD group. There were statistically significant differences between the control group and TCDD group (P<0.05). Conclusions The histone H4 acetylation was involved in the cleft palate formation induced by TCDD in C57BL/6J mice. Key words: Histone H4; Acetylation; 2, 3, 7, 8-tetrachlorod -ibenzo-p-dioxin; Cleft palate