Butyl alcohol extract of Baitouweng Decoction alleviates vulvovaginal candidiasis in mice by downregulating NLRP3 inflammasome and related signal pathways / 中国中药杂志

This study aims to explore the effect of butyl alcohol extract of Baitouweng Decoction(BAEB) on vulvovaginal candidiasis(VVC) in mice and to clarify the mechanism from Toll-like receptors(TLRs)/MyD88 and Dectin-1/Syk signal pathways and NLRP3 inflammasome. To be specific, female KM mice were randomized into control group(i.g., normal saline), model group, fluco-nazole group(i.g., 20 mg·kg~(-1)), and low-dose, medium-dose, and high-dose BAEB groups(i.g., 20, 40, and 80 mg·kg~(-1), respectively). VVC was induced in mice except the control group. After the modeling, administration began and lasted 7 days. The ge-neral conditions and body weight of mice were recorded every day. On the 1 st, 3 rd, 7 th, and 14 th after vaginal infection by Candida albicans, the fungal load in the vaginal lavage fluid of the mice was measured with the plate method, and the morphology of C. albicans in vaginal lavage fluid was observed based on Gram staining. After the mice were killed, vaginal tissues were subjected to hematoxylin-eosin(HE) staining and periodic acid-Schiff(PAS) staining for vaginal histopathological analysis. The content of cytokines in vaginal lavage fluid, such as interleukin(IL)-1β, IL-18, tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α), IL-6, and S100 a8, was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA), and content of reactive oxygen species(ROS) in vaginal tissues by tissue ROS detection kit. The protein expression of NLRP3, ASC, caspase-1, Dectin-1, Syk, MyD88, TLR2, TLR4, and nuclear factor-κB(NF-κB) in vaginal tissues was detected by Western blot, and the levels and distribution of NLRP3, Dectin-1, Syk, MyD88, TLR2, and TLR4 in vaginal tissues were determined with the immunohistochemical method. The results show that BAEB can improve the general conditions of VVC mice, reduce the fungal load and C. albicans hyphae in vaginal secretion, decrease ROS content in vaginal tissues and content of cytokines in vaginal lavage fluid, and down-regulate the expression of NLRP3, ASC, caspase-1, Dectin-1, Syk, MyD88, TLR2, TLR4, and NF-κB in vaginal tissues. The above results indicate that BAEB exerts therapeutic effect on VVC mice by down-regulating the key proteins in the TLRs/MyD88 and Dectin-1/Syk signal pathways and NLRP3 inflammasome.

Effect of Drug Pair of Rhizoma Polygoni Cuspidati and Ramulus Cinnamomi on TLR4/MyD88 Signal Transduction Pathway of Rats with Acute Gouty Arthritis / 广州中医药大学学报

Objective To observe the effects of the drug pair of Rhizoma Polygoni Cuspidati ( Huzhang) and Ramulus Cinnamomi ( Guizhi) on the Toll-like receptor 4 mediated myeloid differentiation factor 88 ( TLRs/MyD88) signaling pathway of rats with acute gouty arthritis induced by monosodium sodium urate (MSU) , so as to explore its therapeutic mechanism. Methods Forty-eight male SD rats were divided into normal group, modele group, blank plasmid group, positive plasmid group, Huzhang- Guizhi herb-pair (7 g/kg) group, and Huzhang-Guizhi herb-pair ( 7 g/kg) siRNA group, 8 rats in each group. The normal group, plasmid groups and model group were given physiological saline, and the left groups were given the corresponding drug by intragastric administration for 10 continuous days ( once daily ) . On the seventh day of intragastric gavage, acute gouty arthritis were induced by injection of MSU into the rat ankle joint, and normal group was injected with the samevolume of normal saline. Positive plasmid group and Huzhang-Guizhi herb-pair siRNA group were injected with the constructed siRNA-TLR4 plasmid targeting TLR4 gene ( TLR4-siRNA) to inhibit the in-vivo TLR4 gene expression. Pathological changes of the synovial tissues were detected, the contents of peripheral blood tumor necrosis factor alpha ( TNF-α) and interleukin 1 beta ( IL-1β) were detected by double antibody sandwich method, and the mRNA and protein expression levels of TLR4, MyD88, TNF receptor-associated factor 6 ( TRAF-6) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of rats were detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction ( PCR) and Western blot methods. The nuclear factor kappa B ( NF-κB) p65 immunoactivity was assayed by immunohistochemistry. Results Compared with the normal group, the model group had obvious hyperplasia of synovial cells and the inflammatory cell infiltration ( dominated by lymphcytes and monocytes) , and had amount of cellulose adhesive on the synovial membrane surface. Compared to the model group, positive plasmid group, Huzhang- Guizhi herb-pair group and Huzhang-Guizhi herb-pair siRNA group could obviously relieve the inflammatory cell infiltration, and improve synovial cell proliferation reaction. Compared to the normal group, serum levels of TNF-α and IL-1β, and the expression levels of TLR4, MyD88, TRAF-6 mRNA and protein in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells as well as the synovial NF-κB p65 ex pression in the model group were significantly increased ( P<0.01). Compared to the model group, positive plasmid group, Huzhang-Guizhi herb-pair group and Huzhang- Guizhi herb-pair siRNA group showed significant decrease in the levels of TNF-α, IL-1β, TLR4 MyD88, TRAF-6 and NF-κB p65 ( P<0.05 or P<0.01) . Conclusion Huzhang-Guizhi herb-pair can regulate the cytokines of the synovial membrane tissue in acute gouty arthritis rats, which may be related with its effect on inhibiting abnormal activation of TLR4-MyD88-NF-κB pathway in synovial tissue.