Expression of β-1,4-Galactosyltransferase-I in Rat during Inflammation

β-1,4-Galactosyltransferase-I (β-1,4-GalT-I) which is one of the best-studied glycosyltransferases, plays a key role in the synthesis of selectin ligands such as sialy Lewis (sLe ^x ) and sulfated sLe ^x . Previous studies showed that inflammatory responses of β-1,4-GalT-I-deficient mice were impaired because of the defect in selectin-ligand biosynthesis. However, the expression of β-1,4-GalT-I during inflammation and its biological function remains to be elucidated. Real-time PCR showed that intraperitoneal administration of LPS strongly induced β-1,4-GalT-I mRNA expression in the lung, heart, liver, spleen, kidney, lymph node, hippocampus, and testis, as well as in the cerebral cortex. In the rat lung, liver and testis, LPS stimulation of β-1,4-GalT-I mRNA expression is time-dependent and biphasic. Lectin-fluorescent staining with RCA-I showed that LPS induced expression of galactose-containing glycans in rat lung and liver to the higher lever. Morphology analysis observed that galactose-containing glycans and β-1,4-GalT-I mRNA was mostly expressed in neutrophils, macrophages and endothelial cells. These findings indicated that β-1,4-GalT-I may play an important role in the inflammation reaction.