RESUMEN
Objective@#The effect of total flavonoids of litchi (TFL) on nuclear translocation of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF- kappa B) in rat hepatic stellate cell line (HSC-T6) induced by transforming growth factor - beta 1 (TGF- beta 1) in vitro was studied to explore the mechanism of action of anti-hepatic fibrosis drugs.@*Methods@#HSC-T6 was cultured in vitro, induced by TGFβ1 for 24 h, and then treated with TFL at 125, 250 and 500 μg/ml for 48 h. The effect of TFL on NF-κB nuclear translocation in HSC-T6 was observed by confocal laser microscopy. The effects of TFL on the expression of TLR4, p-IκB ɑ, p-NF-κB p65, NF-κB and Collagen I protein were detected by western blot. The expressions of TLR4 and p-NF-κB p65 were detected by immunofluorescence. Data were presented as mean±SEM. Homogeneity test of variance was performed and then followed by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The multiple comparisons between groups were performed by LSD test. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.@*Results@#Confocal laser scanning microscopy showed TFL inhibited the nuclear translocation of NF-κB in activated HSC-T6 in a concentration-dependent manner and TFL down regulated the protein expression levels of TLR4, p-IκB ɑ, p-NF-κB p65, NF-κB and collagen I protein in HSC-T6 in a concentration-dependent manner.@*Conclusion@#The mechanism of TFL against hepatic fibrosis may be related to the inhibition of nuclear translocation of NF-κb in the activated HSC-T6 and the expression of TLR4, P-iκbɑ, P-nf-κb p65, NF-κb and collagen I protein in HSC-T6.
RESUMEN
Objective To observe the effects of total flavone from litchi chinensis sonn (TFL) on the liver function in-cluding p16 protein, pro collagen type 3 (PC3) and pro collagen typeⅠ(PCⅠ) in model rats with liver fibrosis induced by bile duct ligation. Methods Forty rats were randomly divided into four groups:sham operation (SO) group, bile duct liga-tion (BDL) group, TFL group and silibinin (SIL) group. Rats were gavaged with saline (5 mL·kg-1·d-1) in SO and BDL group, rats were gavaged with TFL (200 mL·kg-1·d-1) in TFL group and rats were gavaged with SIL (5 mL·kg-1·d-1) in SIL group for four weeks. The serum levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), bilirubin direct (BILD) and bilirubin total (BILT) were detected in four groups. The liver tissues were stained by HE and Masson methods. The ex-pression levels of p16, PC3 and PCⅠin liver tissues were determined by Western blot assay. Results The serum levels of ALT (44.6 IU/L±8.0 IU/L), AST (103.8 IU/L±18.1 IU/L), BILD (0.76 μmol/L±0.28μmol/L) and BILT (1.48μmol/L±0.35μmol/L) were lower in SO group. There was a higher level of ALT in BDL group (147.4 IU/L±86.3 IU/L) than that of TFL group (92.9 IU/L±47.3 IU/L). The serum level of ALT was higher in AST group (362.7 IU/L±106.6 IU/L) than that of TFL group (290.1 IU/L ± 171.7 IU/L) and SIL group (250.2 IU/L ± 54.9 IU/L). The serum level of BILD was lower in BDL group (99.71μmol/L±40.87μmol/L) than that of SIL group (137.01μmol/L±38.86μmol/L). The serum levels of BILD and BILT were significantly lower in TFL group (81.48μmol/L±47.50μmol/L, 106.64μmol/L±61.04μmol/L) than those of SIL group (P<0.05). There were small amount of new bile duct and no obvious cells degeneration, small amount of infiltration of in-flammatory cells and collagen deposition in TFL group. The liver fibrosis improved significantly in TFL group than that of BDL group. There were more new bile duct in hepatic portal area in SIL group than those of TFL group. The expression levels of p16, PC3 and PCⅠwere significantly higher in BDL group than those of TFL group. The expression level of PC3 was significantly lower in BDL group than that of SIL group. The expression level of PCⅠwas significantly higher in BDL group than that of SIL group (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the expression level of p16 between BDL group and SIL group. The expression levels of PC16 and PC3 were significantly lower in TFL group than those of SIL group (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the ex-pression level of PCⅠbetween TFL group and SIL group. Conclusion TFL can improve the liver function in model rats with choles-tatic liver fibrosis and reduce liver fibrosis, which may be related with inhibitory effects on the expressions of p 16, PC3 and PCⅠ.