We examine the anxiety-like behaviors in rats with bile duct ligation (BDL), as well as its relationship with the expression of JNK3 and P38 MAPKs in rat hippocampus. Male Wistar rats undergo either sham operation or BDL as a rat model of cirrhotic HE. The anxiety-like behaviors are determined using a light/dark box test two hours befor the surgery on day 1 and on days 7, 14, 21 and 28 of BDL. The gene and protein expression levels of JNK3 and p38 in the hippocampus were examined respectively with qPCR and western blotting methods on day 28 of BDL. The results revealed that anxiety was increased in the cirrhotic HE model rats during 28 days of BDL. The molecular data indicated that the gene expression of Jnk3 and protein levels of JNK3, as well as phospho-JNK3, significantly increased in the hippocampus of the cirrhotic HE model rats compared to the sham control group. However, the results revealed no significant changes in the gene expression and the protein levels of p38 as well as phospho-p38 in the hippocampus of the cirrhotic HE model rats compared to the sham control group. We conclude that the increases in the expression and activation of JNK3 MAPK in the hippocampus may underlie, at least partly, the anxiety-like behaviors in rats with cirrhotic HE.

中文翻译：

---

胆管结扎大鼠的焦虑与海马JNK3丝裂原活化蛋白激酶的激活有关。

我们检查了胆管结扎（BDL）大鼠的焦虑样行为，及其与大鼠海马中JNK3和P38 MAPKs表达的关系。Wistar雄性大鼠接受假手术或BDL作为肝硬化性HE的大鼠模型。在BDL的第1天和第7、14、21和28天手术前两个小时，使用明/暗盒测试确定类似焦虑的行为。BDL第28天采用qPCR和Western blotting方法分别检测海马JNK3和p38的基因和蛋白表达水平。结果表明，肝硬化HE模型大鼠在BDL的28天中焦虑增加。分子数据表明，Jnk3的基因表达和JNK3的蛋白质水平以及磷酸JNK3，与假对照组相比，肝硬化HE模型大鼠海马中的海马明显增加。然而，结果显示，与假对照组相比，肝硬化HE模型大鼠海马中p38和磷酸化p38的基因表达和蛋白水平没有显着变化。我们得出的结论是，海马JNK3 MAPK表达和激活的增加可能至少部分是肝硬化性HE大鼠焦虑样行为的基础。