Abstract Objective To investigate the expression of heat shock protein 27 (HSP27) in rat lens epithelial cell (LEC) for different periods of time, and to investigate the regulatory role of Quercetin (HSP blocking agent) under high-temperature stress conditions. Methods Sixty SD rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: group A was the normal control group, group B was the thermotolerance treatment group, and group C was the thermotolerance treatment with Quercetin group. The heat treatment procedure was as follows: the SD rat was placed in a water bath box at 45℃ (permanent lukewarm water) causing its rectal temperature rise to 42℃ and maintain for 15 min. The rat was then removed and placed in a normal temperature environment for 2 h. After that, the rats were placed in the water bath once every other day. At 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, and 4 weeks, S rats in each group were sacrificed, the eyeballs were isolated, the lenses were excluded, and an immunohistochemical method was used to detect the expression of HSP27 in the LEC of each group. Results Statistical analysis was performed each week comparing LEC and HSP27 expression and the results were quite even for each group but statistics varied from week to week (P<0.05). Expression in the group B was clearly higher than that for the group A and C, but by the 2nd week expression in the group C was noticeably higher than that in the group A. Comparisons were made at different time intervals for each group and showed an increase in F values: during the first week F=80.99, during the second week F=261.3, during the third week F=242.6, and during the fourth week F= 719.5. There was no statistical difference for the group A (F=0.086, P=0.715), but the differences were significant for the group B (F=563.013, P<0.05) and group C (F=370.291, P<0.05). Conclusion Thermotolerance treatment can promote the expression of HSP27 in the lens epithelium and the expression is even more evident with time. HSP27 may have a protective effect on the lens epithelium. Quercetin inhibited the exp
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