Protective effects and mechanism of pine bark extract on cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury in mice / 中国实验动物学报

Objective To investigate the role of IL-6/STAT3/miR-21 in the treatment of cerebral ischemia reper?fusion injury in mice by pine bark extract. Methods 120 KM mice were randomly divided into normal control group, sham operation group, 14 d and 28 d model groups, 14 d and 28 d treatment groups, each group with 20 mice. The model of cerebral ischemia?reperfusion injury model was made by bilateral common carotid artery occlusion. The mice in the treat?ment group were treated with pine bark extract procyanidins by intragastric administration for 7 days before the execution. The control group and sham operation group were treated with normal saline. The differences in learning and memory abili?ties and histopathological changes in the hippocampus of mice in each group were examined. The levels of interleukin 6, STAT3, p?STAT3 and miR?21 were measured. Results The learning and memory abilities of the mice in the treatment group were higher than that in the model group at the same time points. The treatment group had less irregularity in the ar?rangement of Nissl body, irregular shape of the cells, with relatively lighter cytoplasmic staining, but was better than the model group. The expression level of IL?6 in the 28 d model group was lower than that in the 14 d model group, The IL?6 in the hippocampus of the treatment group was significantly lower than that in the model group at the same time point. Therewere no significant differences in the contents of total STAT3 protein in the hippocampus between the groups (P>0. 05). The expression of p?STAT3 in the treatment group was lower than model group at the same time point. The expression of miR?21 in the hippocampus of 14 d, 28 d treatment groups was lower than that in the model group at the same time point, and decreased with time. Conclusions The procyanidins extracted from pine bark may effectively inhibit IL?6, then the phosphorylation level of STAT3 is significantly decreased and finally decreases the expression of miR?21, so as to alleviate the cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury in mice.

Protective effects of pine bark extract against cisplatin-induced hepatotoxicity and oxidative stress in rats / 한국실험동물학회지

We investigated the protective effects of pine bark extract (pycnogenol(R), PYC) against cisplatin-induced hepatotoxicity and oxidative stress in rats. Twenty-four male rats were divided into the following four groups: (1) vehicle control, (2) cisplatin (7.5 mg/kg), (3) cisplatin & PYC 10 (10 mg/kg/day), and (4) cisplatin & PYC 20 (20 mg/kg/day). A single intraperitoneal injection of cisplatin induced hepatotoxicity, as evidenced by an increase in serum aminotransferase and histopathological alterations, including degeneration/necrosis of hepatocytes, vacuolation, and sinusoidal dilation. In addition, an increase in the malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration and a decrease in the reduced glutathione (GSH) content and catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione S-transferase (GST) activities were observed in the cisplatin-treated rat hepatic tissues. In contrast, PYC treatment effectively prevented cisplatin-induced hepatotoxicity, including the elevation of aminotransferase and histopathological lesions, in a dosedependent manner. Moreover, PYC treatment also induced antioxidant activity by decreasing MDA level and increasing GSH content and SOD and GST activities in liver tissues. These results indicate that PYC has a protective effect against acute hepatotoxicity induced by cisplatin in rats, and that the protective effects of PYC may be due to inhibiting lipid peroxidation and increasing antioxidant activity.

Effects of pitamin on growth performance, carcass characteristics and cecal microflora of broiler chicken.

The treated groups were as follows: 1) the control, 2) the antibiotics (8 mg of avilamycin kg-1 of diet) and 3) the pitamin (70 mg of pitamin kg-1 of diet) groups. Body weight gain, feed intake, and feed efficiency were significantly higher in the pitamin group than in the antibiotics and control groups (p<0.05). Carcass weight, dressing percentage, and the weight of breast and thigh muscle recorded significantly higher levels in the pitamin group as compared to the other groups (p< 0.05). The addition of pitamin to the diets for broilers reduced abdominal fat by 23.35% and stimulated the growth of the thymus, the spleen, and the bursa of Fabricius. TAG levels of the pitamin group declined by 12.03 and 10.45% as compared to the control and antibiotics groups, and their TC levels were reduced by 15.17 and 14.39%, and LDL.C levels were reduced by 10.56 and 11.24%, respectively. Serum IgG was increased significantly by 137.43 and 36.80% in the pitamin group as compared to the control and antibiotics groups, respectively (p< 0.05). The numbers of Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus on the cecum digesta were significantly higher in the pitamin group than in the antibiotics and control groups and the numbers of Escherichia coli and Salmonella tended to be reduced (p<0.05). In conclusion, when Korean red pine bark extract, pitamin, was added to the broiler diets at a concentration of 70 mg of pitamin kg-1 of diet, it resulted in better growth performance as compared to the antibiotics by improving immunity and the cecal beneficial microfloral population.