RNA-Seq reveals inflammatory mechanisms of Xiao-Ban-Xia-Tang decoction to ameliorate cisplatin-induced emesis in a rat pica model.

OBJECTIVES: Xiao-Ban-Xia-Tang decoction (XBXT), an antiemetic formula in traditional Chinese medicine, has been proved to be a potential treatment for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV), but the underlying mechanisms are not adequately understood. This study aimed to investigate changes in the ileum transcriptome after cisplatin and XBXT treatment and to reveal whether the antiemetic mechanisms of XBXT are related to its anti-inflammatory effect. METHODS: The pica model was established by a single intraperitoneal injection of 6 mg/kg cisplatin in Wistar rats. Tissues from the gastric antrum and ileum were stained with hematoxylin-eosin to observe gastrointestinal tract pathological changes. Based on the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) which were altered by cisplatin and reversed by XBXT, the transcriptome data of rat ileum were analyzed by GO, KEGG, and PPI analyses. Several inflammatory DEGs were validated by RT-PCR. RESULTS: XBXT could reduce kaolin intake up to 72 h after modeling and alleviate the inflammatory damage of gastric antrum and ileum induced by cisplatin. According to the transcriptome profile, there were 75 DEGs down-regulated by cisplatin and up-regulated by XBXT and 343 DEGs up-regulated by cisplatin and down-regulated by XBXT. XBXT could blunt the overexpression of tryptophan hydroxylase 1 (the rate-limiting enzyme of serotonin synthesis) in ileum. Enrichment analysis showed that inhibiting overexpression of several conventional inflammation pathways and pro-inflammation cytokines were related to the antiemetic effectiveness of XBXT. CONCLUSIONS: This study implies that inhibiting inflammatory signaling pathways and synthesis of serotonin might be potential mechanisms of XBXT's antiemetic effect against CINV.

[Calcium distribution in fertile and sterile anthers of a genic male sterile Chinese cabbage].

Potassium antimonite was used to locate calcium in the fertile and sterile anthers of a genic male sterile Chinese cabbage (Brassica campestris L. ssp. chinensis Makino) to probe the relation between Ca(2+) and fertility and sterility of anthers of the cabbage. During fertile anther development, calcium granules increase in number in anther wall cells after meiosis, and then appeared also in locule, suggesting a calcium influx into locule from anther wall cells (Plate I-4). Then the number of calcium granules in microspore cytoplasm also increased at early stage (Plate II-1), accumulated mainly on the membrane of small vacuoles which were fusing to form big ones to make a polarity in the cell and to prepare asymmetric division of microspore (Plate II-3,4). After microspore division and the big vacuole decomposition, many calcium granules accumulated again on the membrane of the vacuoles (Plate III-1,2), displaying calcium regulates vacuole formation and decomposition during pollen development. In sterile anthers, abnormal distribution of calcium granules first appeared in callus wall of microspore mother cell (Plate IV-1). However, only a few calcium granules appeared in early microspores, which then could not form small vacuoles and finally a big vacuole (Plate IV-2,3). The aborting microspores degenerate by cytoplasm shrinking (Plate IV-5,6). The difference pattern of distribution of calcium granules between the fertile and sterile anthers indicates that anomalies in the distribution of calcium accumulation are correlated with the failure of pollen development and pollen abortion.