ABSTRACT
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is characterized by hepatic steatosis caused by nonalcoholic factors, and its pathogenesis, progression, treatment, and prevention have attracted more and more attention. At present, an increasing number of studies have been conducted on the association of intestinal microecology with various metabolic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. Recent studies have found that butyrate, a metabolite of intestinal flora, is closely associated with NAFLD and can affect the development and progression of NAFLD through various mechanisms, such as alleviating inflammatory response, inhibiting insulin resistance, and reducing oxidative stress of liver mitochondria. Exploration of the association between butyrate and NAFLD is expected to provide a new approach for the prevention and treatment of NAFLD.
ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the effect of Baihe Zhimu Tang(百合知母汤,BZT) on the airway inflammation in bronchial asthma rats.Methods Forty Wistar rats were randomized into control group,asthma model group,BZT group and dexamethasone (DX) group with 10 rats in each group.The bronchial asthma rat model was built by intraperitoneal injection of 10％ ovalbumin (OVA) and ultrasonic atomizing inhalation of 2％ OVA except for the control group.Thirty minutes before every ultrasonic atomizing inhalation,the BZT group was given BZT 3.68 g/(kg · d) by gastric perfusion;the DX group was administered DX injection 1.2 mg/(kg · d) by gastric perfusion;as for the control group and asthma model group,they were given normal saline of the same volume;all groups were intervened for 14 days.After that,HE staining was used to observe the pathological changes of lung tissue,the levels of interleukin-2 (IL-2) and interleukin-4 (IL-4) were measured,and the cell cycle and calcineurin (CaN) activity were observed in separated peripheral blood lymphocytes.Results For the asthma model group,there was a lot of inflammatory cell infiltration in the bronchial wall under light microscope,the content of IL-4 in the plasma was higher than that in the control group,while the content of IL-2 decreased,the proportion of G0/G1 phase lymphocytes decreased,the proportion of S phase and G2/M increased,and the CaN activity of lymphocytes increased significantly (P ＜ 0.05).For the BZT group,there was only a small amount of inflammatory cell infiltration in the lung tissue under light microscope,the IL-4 level in the plasma was lower than that in the asthma model group,while the IL-2 content increased,the proportion of G0/G1 phase lymphocytes increased,the proportion of S phase and G2/M decreased significantly,and the CaN activity of lymphocytes decreased significantly (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion BZT could reduce lymphocyte proliferation,decrease IL-4 level and reduce airway inflammation by reducing CaN activity in peripheral blood lymphocytes of bronchial asthma rats.