ABSTRACT
Objective To study the effect of glucosides of cbaenomeles speciosa (GCS) on the expression of EP2 and EP4 in synovial tissues from rats with adjuvant arthritis. Methods Complete Freund's adjuvant (FCA) was used to induce adjuvant arthritis (AA) in rats. The synoviocytes from AA rats were collected and incubated. Synoviocytes proliferation was determined by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazal-2yl) 2,5-dipbeny+hetrazoliumbromide (MTT) assay. Levels of prostaglandins E2(PGE2) and cAMP were determined by radioim-munoassay (RIA). The expression of EP2 and EP4 was detected by Western blot analysis. Results GCS significantly inhibited the proliferation of synoviocytes. GCS decreased the level of PGE2 and increased the level of cAMP. The results of correlation analysis demonstrated that GCS inhibited synoviocytes hyperplasia by increasing the level of cAMP in synoviocytes. The results of Western blot analysis demonstrated that GCS significantly improved the expression of EP2 and EP4. Condusion These results suggest that restoring normal transduction of the EP-G protein-cAMP signal pathway may be one of the most important mechanisms of GCS.