Effect of Tripteryginum wilfordii polyglycoside on Fas/FasL and p38 MAPK signaling pathway expression in ulcerative colitis rats / 中国药理学通报

ABSTRACT

Aim: To investigate the expression changes of Fas/FasL and its related signaling pathway p38 MAPK in ulcerative colitis(UC) rats and the effects of Tripterygium wilfordii polycoride (TWP). Methods: TNBS and ethanol enema method were adopted to build the UC rat model, and colon inflammation in rats was assessed; the differential expression of Fas/FasL was analyzed by expression profiling method, and verified by real-time PCR. Subsequently, pathway analysis in DAVID database showed that Fas/FasL might involve p38 MAPK signaling pathway in regulating UC inflammatory activities, and the related molecules in this signaling pathway were analyzed by the expression profiling method and verified by real-time PCR. Finally, the expression of the terminal inflammatory factors of the pathway were detected by RT-PCR and Western blot. Results: In UC rats, the gross morphological damage and histopathological injury scores significantly increased, which could be reduced by TWP. The trend of FasL was in consistent with that of MAPK14 (p38α), TNF-α and IL-1β in Fas/FasL system and the p38 MAPK signaling pathway, and the expression of them were up-regulated in inflammatory activity, which can be down-regulated by TWP. Conclusion: TWP can regulate the inflammatory activity of UC through Fas/FasL system and the p38 MAPK signaling pathway.