Esculetin protects against early sepsis via attenuating inflammation by inhibiting NF-κB and STAT1/STAT3 signaling / 中国天然药物

Esculetin, a natural derivative from the traditional and widely-used Chinese medicinal herb Cortex Fraxini, has a variety of pharmacological effects, especially in anti-inflammation. However, it is not clear whether esculetin has a therapeutic effect on sepsis. This study aimed to investigate the anti-inflammatory and protective effects of esculetin on early sepsis. The results showed that the lung injury was significantly relieved with the treatment of esculetin, accompanied with the restrained production of inflammatory factors including IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, CCL2 and iNOS during the early phase of E.coli-induced sepsis. Of note, activation of NF-κB and STAT1/STAT3 signals, the main upstream signals of many inflammatory factors, were attenuated by esculetin in both lung tissues from septic mice and LPS-stimulated macrophage. These findings suggested that the protection of esculetin against early sepsis should be related to its anti-inflammatory effect, which was at least partly due to its inhibition on NF-κB and STAT1/STAT3 signaling pathway in macrophage. Thus, esculetin could serve as a potential therapeutic agent by rebalancing innate immune response in macrophage for the treatment of early sepsis.

Efficacy of Loulu Shengma Tang Combined with Azithromycin in Treating Children with Mycoplasma Pneumonia with Obstruction of Lung by Pathogenic Heat and Its Effect on Treg and Foxp3 mRNA / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Objective:To investigate the clinical efficacy of Loulu Shengma Tang combined with azithromycin in the treatment of pediatric mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia（MPP） with obstruction of lung by pathogenic heat， and its effect on inflammatory factors， treg and Foxp3 mRNA. Method:Totally 274 children with MPP were divided into observation group （137 cases） and control group （137 cases）. Observation group was treated with Loulu Shengma Tang combined with azithromycin dry suspension， while control group was treated with azithromycin dry suspension alone. The changes of traditional Chinese medicine（TCM） syndrome score of pathogenic-heat obstruction in the lung， serum inflammatory cytokines ［interleukin-6 （IL-6），interleukin-10 （IL-10），tumor necrosis factor-α （TNF-α），C-reactive protein （CRP）］， CD4+CD25+Treg， CD4+Foxp3+Treg and Foxp3 mRNA expressions were observed after treatment. The clinical efficacy and the incidence of adverse reactions were compared between two groups. Result:The total effective rate of observation group was 94.16%（129/137） after treatment， which was significantly higher than 77.37% （106/137）of observation group （P<0.05）. The disappearance times of cough， lung rale， fever and lung shadow in observation group were shorter than that in control group （P<0.05）. After treatment， TCM syndrome score of pathogenic-heat obstruction in lung was significantly higher than those in control group （P<0.05）， serum IL-6， IL-10， TNF-α and CRP levels in observation group were significantly lower than those in control group （P<0.05， P<0.01）， while CD4+CD25+Treg， CD4+Foxp3+Treg and Foxp3 mRNA expressions were significantly higher than those in control group （P<0.05）. The incidence of adverse reactions in observation group was 7/137 （5.11%）， which was significantly lower than 16/137 （11.68%） in control group. Conclusion:The clinical efficacy of Loulu Shengma Tang combined with azithromycin dry suspension in the treatment of pediatric MPP and its effect on serum inflammatory factors （IL-6， IL-10， TNF-α， CRP）， regulatory T cells and Foxp3 mRNA expressions were better than those of azithromycin dry suspension alone. The incidence of adverse reactions of Loulu Shengma Tang was lower than that of azithromycin dry suspension alone.