Department of Basic Oriental Medical Science, College of Oriental Medicine, Kyung Hee University, #1 Hoegi-dong, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, 130-701, Republic of Korea.
J Nat Med. 2013 Jul;67(3):576-89. doi: 10.1007/s11418-012-0714-3. Epub 2012 Oct 20.
Moutan Cortex Radicis (MCR), the root bark of Paeonia suffruticosa Andrews (Paeoniaceae), is found in the traditional Chinese medicinal formulae which were used to treat periodontal diseases. This study investigated the changes in gene expression by MCR treatment when stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in cultured human gingival fibroblasts (HGFs). A genome-wide expression GeneChip was used for the gene array analysis, and real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis was also performed to confirm the gene expression. It was shown that 42 of the 643 genes up-regulated by LPS, when compared to the control, were down-regulated by the MCR treatment. Of these 42 genes, the inflammation and immune response-related genes were especially noted, which indicates that MCR inhibits the induction of inflammation by LPS stimulation. In addition, 33 of the 519 genes down-regulated by LPS, when compared to the control, were up-regulated by the MCR treatment. The expression patterns of some representative genes by real-time RT-PCR correlated with those of the genes shown in the microarray. In addition, the MCR extract contained paeonol and paeoniflorin, which are known to have the anti-inflammatory effect as the major phenolic components of MCR. This study showed that the MCR extract could comprehensively inhibit a wide variety of activations of inflammation-related genes, which may be due to paeonol and paeoniflorin. It is, thus, suggested that MCR may be applied to alleviate the inflammation of periodontal diseases.
牡丹皮（MCR），是毛茛科芍药属植物牡丹（Paeonia suffruticosa Andrews）的根皮，存在于传统中药方剂中，用于治疗牙周病。本研究调查了牡丹皮处理脂多糖（LPS）刺激培养的人牙龈成纤维细胞（HGFs）时的基因表达变化。使用全基因组表达基因芯片进行基因阵列分析，并进行实时逆转录聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）分析以确认基因表达。结果表明，与对照组相比，LPS 上调的 643 个基因中有 42 个被牡丹皮处理下调。在这些基因中，炎症和免疫反应相关基因尤为明显，表明牡丹皮抑制 LPS 刺激引起的炎症诱导。此外，与对照组相比，LPS 下调的 519 个基因中有 33 个被牡丹皮处理上调。实时 RT-PCR 的一些代表性基因的表达模式与微阵列中显示的基因一致。此外，牡丹皮提取物含有丹皮酚和芍药苷，这两种成分作为牡丹皮的主要酚类成分，具有抗炎作用。本研究表明，牡丹皮提取物可以全面抑制与炎症相关的基因的多种激活，这可能是由于丹皮酚和芍药苷的存在。因此，牡丹皮提取物可能应用于减轻牙周病的炎症。
