Niu Yaojie, Dong Qiumei, Li Rongheng
Department of Combination of Chinese and Western Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China.
The Center of Laboratory Medicine, The Southwest Hospital of the Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 40038, China.
Cell Biol Int. 2017 Jun;41(6):611-621. doi: 10.1002/cbin.10763. Epub 2017 Mar 31.
To investigate the efficacy and mechanisms of matrine, a component derived from Sophora flavescens in treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a rat model of RA was established. Compared to control rats, matrine significantly mitigated inflammation and severity of RA (paw volume and articular index (AI) score). Using either mice splenic T cells stimulated with PMA/ionomycin or rat splenic T cells, the levels of Th1 and Th2 responses were determined by flow cytometry, quantitative RT-PCR, and ELISA. Furthermore, the levels of NF-κBp65 (RelA), IκBα, and phosphor-IκBα in T cells were determined by Western blot. Our study found that matrine modulated the imbalance of Th1 and Th2 cytokine responses in rats with RA by reducing the levels of Th1 cytokines (IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-1β), but increasing Th2 cytokine (IL-4 and IL-10) through attenuating the NF-κB signaling in T cells, suggesting matrine as a promising drug for intervention of RA.
为研究苦参中提取的成分苦参碱治疗类风湿性关节炎（RA）的疗效及机制，建立了RA大鼠模型。与对照大鼠相比，苦参碱显著减轻了RA的炎症和严重程度（爪体积和关节指数（AI）评分）。使用经佛波酯/离子霉素刺激的小鼠脾T细胞或大鼠脾T细胞，通过流式细胞术、定量RT-PCR和ELISA测定Th1和Th2反应水平。此外，通过蛋白质免疫印迹法测定T细胞中NF-κBp65（RelA）、IκBα和磷酸化IκBα的水平。我们的研究发现，苦参碱通过降低Th1细胞因子（IFN-γ、TNF-α、IL-1β）水平，但通过减弱T细胞中的NF-κB信号传导增加Th2细胞因子（IL-4和IL-10）水平，调节RA大鼠Th1和Th2细胞因子反应的失衡，提示苦参碱是一种有前景的RA干预药物。
