ABSTRACT
In this study, according to TCM theory of "liver qi stagnation forming fire", emotional stress mice model was employed to evaluate the protective effects of Qingre Xiaoyanning on herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) induced reactivation. The animal experimental protocol has been reviewed and approved by Laboratory Animal Ethics Committee of Jinan University, in compliance with the Institutional Animal Care Guidelines. BALB/c mice were divided into six groups, including mock group, HSV-1 latency group, HSV-1 reactivation group (HSV-1 latency + stress), low (0.658 g·kg-1·day-1) and high dose (1.316 g·kg-1·day-1) of Qingre Xiaoyanning groups and positive control group (acyclovir, 0.206 g·kg-1·day-1). Except for the normal group and HSV-1 latency group, all mice in other groups received a daily 12-h restraint stress for 4 days. After 7-day treatment of drugs, body weight and recurrent eye infections of mice were recorded. Brain tissues were harvested to monitor HSV-1 antigen distribution by immunohistochemical staining and detect virus titer by plaque assay. In the meantime, the mRNA and protein levels of infected cell polypeptide (ICP27) and glycoprotein B (gB) in the brain tissues were detected by RT-PCR and Western blot, respectively. The level of 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE) and expressions of ferroptosis-related proteins were measured by Western blot. The evaluation of malondialdehyde (MDA) content in the brain tissues was conducted by MDA assay commercial kit. The results showed that Qingre Xiaoyanning significantly retarded the decline of body weight of mice induced by HSV-1 reactivation, reduced the activation rate of HSV-1 and recurrent eye infections, declined virus titer of HSV-1, down-regulated gene and protein expressions of ICP27 and gB, and hindered the distribution of HSV-1 antigen in the brain of mice. Meanwhile, Qingre Xiaoyanning also decreased the protein expression of ferroptosis-related proteins, including DMT1, TFR1 and ALOX15 in the brain tissue of HSV-1 reactivated mice. The levels of lipid peroxidation products, 4-HNE and MDA, were also reduced by Qingre Xiaoyanning treatment. All the above results indicate that Qingre Xiaoyanning significantly inhibited HSV-1 reactivation by restraint stress, which might be related to the regulation of ferroptosis. Our findings provide a theoretical basis for the application of "clearing liver-fire" TCM on treatmenting HSV-1 reactivation-related symptoms.
ABSTRACT
In this study, emotional stress-induced herpes simplex virus type 1(HSV-1) susceptibility model was employed to simu-late the pathological state of " depression-induced liver fire", and the protection effect of Qingre Xiaoyanning(QX) in clearing liver fire was investigated. BALB/c mice were randomly divided into a normal group, a HSV-1 group, a restraint stress + HSV-1 group,low-(0. 658 g·kg~(-1)) and high-dose(1. 316 g·kg~(-1)) QX groups, and an acyclovir group. Except for the normal group and the HSV-1 group, the mice in other groups received daily restraint stress for 6 h from day 3 of medication. On day 9 of medication, mice were anesthetized by isoflurane and infected intranasally with HSV-1. Survival rate, weight change, encephalitis symptoms, and eye injury of mice were recorded for 14 d after virus infection. Hematoxylin-eosin(HE) staining and immunohistochemical staining were used to detect pathological changes and HSV-1 antigen distribution. Plaque assay was performed to detect the titer of HSV-1. The protein ex-pression of ICP27 in the mouse brain was detected by Western blot. The experimental results showed that QX could increase the survival rate of HSV-1-infected mice loaded with emotional stress(P<0. 001), reduce the titer of HSV-1 in the mouse brain(P<0. 01), relieve brain inflammation(P<0. 05) and eye injury(P<0. 05), down-regulate the expression of ICP27 related to HSV-1(P<0. 05), and decrease the distribution of HSV-1 antigen in the mouse brain. The results demonstrated that QX significantly reduced the susceptibility to HSV-1 induced by emotional stress, which is expected to provide a theoretical basis for the treatment and preven-tion of HSV-1 infection and promote the clinical development and application of Chinese medicine effective in clearing liver fire.
Subject(s)
Animals , Mice , Capsules , Herpes Simplex , Herpesvirus 1, Human , Mice, Inbred BALB C , Psychological DistressABSTRACT
Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), a neurotropic herpes virus, is able to establish a lifelong latent infection in the human host. Following primary replication in mucosal epithelial cells, the virus can enter sensory neurons innervating peripheral tissues nerve termini. The viral genome is then transported to the nucleus where it can be maintained without producing infectious progeny, and thus latency is established in the cell. Yin-Yang balance is an essential concept in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) theory. Yin represents stable and inhibitory factors, and Yang represents the active and aggressive factors. When the organism is exposed to stress, especially psychological stress caused by emotional stimulation, the Yin-Yang balance is disturbed and the virus can re-engage in productive replication, resulting in recurrent diseases. Therefore, a better understanding of the stress-induced susceptibility to HSV-1 primary infection and reactivation is needed and will provide helpful insights into the effective control and treatment of HSV-1. Here we reviewed the recent advances in the studies of HSV-1 susceptibility, latency and reactivation. We included mechanisms involved in primary infection and the regulation of latency and described how stress-induced changes increase the susceptibility to primary and recurrent infections.
ABSTRACT
Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) is a ubiquitous and widespread human pathogen, which gives rise to a range of diseases, including cold sores, corneal blindness, and encephalitis. Currently, the use of nucleoside analogs, such as acyclovir and penciclovir, in treating HSV-1 infection often presents limitation due to their side effects and low efficacy for drug-resistance strains. Therefore, new anti-herpetic drugs and strategies should be urgently developed. Here, we reported that baicalein, a naturally derived compound widely used in Asian countries, strongly inhibited HSV-1 replication in several models. Baicalein was effective against the replication of both HSV-1/F and HSV-1/Blue (an acyclovir-resistant strain)
ABSTRACT
Herpes simplex virus type Ⅰ(HSV-1) is a common pathogen, and human is the only natural host of it.Following a period of lytic replication in epithelial cells, HSV-1 enters axon terminals of sensory neurons and then travels via retrograde transport to the sensory ganglia where latency can be established.Upon the stimulation of some stressors, the latent virus can reactivate, leading to recurrent diseases.Therefore, to clarify the mechanism of HSV-1 latent infection and stress-induced reactivation will offer new insights into the prevention, treatment and control of HSV-1 infection.In this review, we describes the mechanisms underlying HSV-1 latent infection and stress-induced reactivation.
ABSTRACT
This study investigated the role of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the pathogenesis of triptolide-induced renal injury in vivo.Rats were randomly divided into 4 groups (n=5 in each):triptolide group in which the rats were intraperitoneally injected with triptolide solution at a dose of 1 mg/kg of body weight on day 8; control group in which the rats received a single intraperitoneal injection of 0.9％ physiological saline on day 8; vitamin C group in which the rats were pretreated with vitamin C by gavage at a dose of 250 mg/kg of body weight per day for 7 days before the same treatment as the control group on day 8; triptolide+vitamin C group in which the rats were first subjected to an oral administration of vitamin C at a dose of 250 mg/kg of body weight per day for 7 days,and then to the same treatment as the triptolide group on day 8.All the rats were sacrificed on day 10.Blood samples were collected for detection of plasma creatinine (Pcr) and plasma urea nitrogen (PUN) concentrations.Both kidneys were removed.The histological changes were measured by haematoxylin-eosin (HE)staining.The production of ROS was determined by detecting the fluorescent intensity of the oxidation-sensitive probe rhodamine 123 in renal tissue.Renal malondialdehyde (MDA) content was measured to evaluate lipid peroxidation level in renal tissue.TUNEL staining was performed to assess apoptosis of renal tubular cells.Renal expression of apoptosis-related proteins Bcl-2,Bax,Bid,Bad,Fas and FasL,as well as corresponding encoding genes were assessed by Western Blotting and real-time PCR.The results showed that triptolide treatment promoted the generation of a great amount of ROS,up-regulated the expression of Bax,Bid,Bad,Fas and FasL at both protein and mRNA levels,as well as the ratio of Bax to Bcl-2,and caused the apoptosis of renal tubular cells and renal injury.However,pretreatment with an antioxidant,vitamin C,significantly reduced the generation of ROS and effectively inhibited the triptolide-induced apoptosis of renal tubular cells and renal injury.It was concluded that ROS plays a critical role in triptolide-induced apoptosis of renal tubular cells and renal injury.The protective administration of vitamin C may help alleviate triptolide-induced renal injury and nephrotoxicity.
ABSTRACT
Corneal opacity is one of the most commonly used parameters for estimating postmortem interval(PMI).This paper proposes a new method to study the relationship between changes of corneal opacity and PMI by processing and analyzing cornea images.Corneal regions were extracted from images of rabbits' eyes and described by color-based and texture-based features,which could represent the changes of cornea at different PMI.A KNN classifier was used to reveal the association of image features and PMI.The result of the classification showed that the new method was reliable and effective.