Uncovering pharmacological mechanisms of Phellinus linteus on focal segmental glomeruloscleosis rats through tandem mass tag-based quantitative proteomic analysis, network pharmacology analysis and experimental validation.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the underlying molecular mechanism of (). METHODS: We used a tandem mass tag-based quantitative proteomic method to determine the differentially expressed proteins. Network pharmacology analysis was used to analysis the main components of and construct the compound-target network. Western blotting and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) were used to validate the analyses results. RESULTS: The expression levels of thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1) and transforming growth factor (TGF)-ß1/Smad3 signaling pathway proteins were significantly upregulated in focal segmental glomeruloscleosis (FSGS) rats. The reduced the expression levels of TSP-1 and TGF-ß1 signaling pathway proteins. Network pharmacology analysis revealed that protocatechualdehyde was the main active component. Subsequent and experiments validated the results of proteomic and network pharmacology analyses. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggested that may inhibit renal sclerosis by inhibiting TSP-1-activated TGF-ß1 signaling and may have potential applications in the treatment of FSGS.

Danggui Buxue Tang ameliorates bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis in rats through inhibiting transforming growth factor-ß1/Smad3/ plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 signaling pathway.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of Danggui Buxue Tang (DBT), a decoction from Traditional Chinese Medicine, on bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis in rats, and to propose the possible underlying mechanism. METHODS: Forty male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into sham group, model group, prednisone group and DBT group. Pulmonary fibrosis rat model was established by intratracheal injection with bleomycin. Body weight and lung index were monitored. Histopathologic examination and collagen deposition were determined using Hematoxylin and eosin (HE) and Masson's trichrome staining. Immunohistochemistry staining was applied to observe the expression of alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA). mRNA expression of α-SMA, collagen Ⅰ and collagen Ⅲ were measured by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). Inflammatory cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and IL-1ß in serum were detected by Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Alkali hydrolysis method was conducted to investigate the content of hydroxyproline (HYP). Transforming growth factor-ß1 (TGF-ß1), Smad3 and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) protein level were examined by Western blot assay. RESULTS: DBT significantly reduced the severity of bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis and inflammation as indicated by minimizing the lost of weight, and by lowering the levels of lung index, inflammation score, Ashcroft score, collagen volume fraction (%), HYP, α-SMA, collagen Ⅰ, collagen Ⅲ, TNF-α, IL-6, IL-1ß, TGF-ß1, Smad3 and PAI-1, consistent with the effect of prednisone. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that DBT is able to ameliorate the pulmonary fibrosis, the possible mechanism may involve inhibition of pulmonary inflammation and collagen deposition, possibly via suppressing TGF-ß1/Smad3/PAI-1 signaling pathway.

Effects of curcumin in intestinal fibrosis of rats and its mechanism / 中华消化杂志

Objective To investigate the anti-fibrotic effects of curcumin in trinitrobenzene sulphonic acid (TNBS) induced intestinal fibrosis in rats and its mechanism. Methods Forty SD rats were randomly divided into model group, treatment group, control group and normal group with 10each. Except the normal group, the other three groups were given 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 mg of TNBS enema on the 1st, 8 th, 15th, 22nd and 29th days,respectively. The rats in treatment group were intraperitonealy injected with 30 mg/kg of curcumin daily. Control group was injected with 0. 9%NaCl solution and normal group received an equal volume of 50% ethanol enema without any treatment. The damage and fibrosis of colon were detected with HE staining and Masson collagen staining, respectively. The contents of interleukin (IL) -2, tumor necrosis factor (TNF) -α, IL-4 and IL-17 in colon were measured by enzyme-link immunosorbent analysis (ELISA). The expressions of intestinal fibrosis related cytokines such as transforming growth factor (TGF) -β1, connective tissue growth factor (CTGF), Smad3, collagen Ⅰ and collagen Ⅲ mRNA were determined by FQ-PCR.Results The macroscopic and micrpscopic colonic damage scores and collagen area were significantly higher in model group (6.14 ± 1.07, 8. 42 ± 1.40 and 36. 59% ± 4.07%, respectively) and control group (6.17 ± 1.47, 8. 17 ±1.47 and 37.18 %±4.05 %, respectively) than those in normal group (2.13±0.64, 2.25±1.28 and 25.43%±5.39% ,respectively)(P＜0.05). Contents of IL2, TNF-α, IL-17, as well as expressions of intestinal fibrosis related cytokines including TGF-β1, CTGF,Smad3, collagen Ⅰ and Ⅲ mRNA were also higher in model group [(378. 25±29. 90) ng/L,(87.11±23.85) ng/L, (47.80±5.62) ng/L, 4.71%±2.71%,10.33%±6.99%,9.35%±7.32%,1.52% ± 1.11% and 3.04% ±1.33%, respectively] and control group [(410. 06 ± 64.74) ng/L,(100.41±12.59) ng/L, (41.45±2. 12) ng/L, 4. 12%±3.01%,11.46%±4.72%,10. 11%±3.80%,1. 57% ± 1. 35% and 3. 03% ± 3. 53%, respectively] in comparision with normal group [(179.74±20. 73) ng/L, (35. 47±7. 13) ng/L, (14. 48±7. 52) ng/L and 0. 90%± 1. 13%,0.53%±0.47%, 0. 62%±0. 44%, 0. 16%±0. 09% and 0. 18%±0. 10%, respectively] (P＜0.05). While in treatment group, the macroscopic (4.00 ± 1.07 ) and micrpscopic (5. 13 ± 1.46)colonic damage scores, collagen area (30.01%±7.56%), contents of IL-2 [(223.91±28.04) ng/L],TNF-α [(44.19±4. 77) ng/L] and IL-17 [(14.89±4. 31) ng/L], expressions of TGF-β1 (0.85%±0.76%), CTGF (1.56%±1.13%), Smad3 (3.62%±3.03%), collagen Ⅰ (0.40%±0.31%) and Ⅲ (0.60 % ± 1.02 % ) mRNA were much lower than those in model group and control group (P＜0.05 ), but similar to those in normal group (P＞ 0.05 ). Conclusions Curcumin can inhibit intestinal fibrosis caused by excessive "wound-healing" reaction via reducing the overexpression of cytokines in colonic mucosa and attenuating the inflammation of colon.