To investigate the association of MMP-2 and TIMP -2 in adults' anterior rectus sheath of patients with inguinal hernia in different age stage.

There were fifty-eight patients undergoing surgical treatment in the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from February 2016 to November 2016, including forty-eight cases of inguinal hernia in the experimental group and ten cases of non-hernia in the control group, all of whom male. The expression levels of MMP-2mRNA and TIMP-2mRNA of the cases at different age were detected by Real-Time PCR.

The expression of MMP-2mRNA: the control group was 1.530±0.612, the group 1 was 1.561±0.222, the group 2 was 2.305±0.213, the group 3 was 2.918±0.392, the group 4 was 3.270±0.259. The four experimental groups showed high expression compared with the control group. The differences were significant comparing the group 3 and the group 4 with the control one, and there was no statistical significance to compare the group 1 and the group 2 with the control one. When compared with each other between the 4 groups, the expression gradually increased with age. The expression of TIMP-2mRNA: the control group was 1.021±0.395, the group 1 was 0.996±0.096, the group 2 was 0.813±0.049, the group 3 was 0.504±0.035, the group 4 was 0.374±0.026. The four experimental groups showed low expression comparing with the control group. The differences were significant comparing the group 3 and the group 4 with the control one, and there was no statistical significance to compare the group 1 and the group 2 with the control one. When compared with each other between the 4 groups, the expression gradually decreased with age. The average value of MMP-2mRNA and TIMP-2mRNA of 4 groups were significantly different with the control group, respectively.

The expression of MMP-2mRNA in the anterior sheath of the abdominal rectus abdominis in adult inguinal hernia was high, and the low expression of TIMP-2mRNA was significantly different from that of the non-hernia, indicating that the two were closely related to the occurrence of inguinal hernia. As the age increase, MMP-2mRNA gradually increase, and TIMP-2mRNA gradually decreases. This is one of the important reasons for the increase of the prevalence of inguinal hernia with age.