Network pharmacological analysis and experimental study of Pulsatilla chinensis against inflammatory injury caused by pneumonia in mice infected with influenza virus FM_1 / 中国中药杂志

Network pharmacology and the mouse model of viral pneumonia caused by influenza virus FM_1 were employed to explore the main active components and the mechanism of Pulsatilla chinensis against the inflammatory injury of influenza virus-induced pneumonia. The components and targets of P. chinensis were searched from TCMSP, and the targets associated with influenza virus-induced pneumonia were searched from GeneCards. The common targets between P. chinensis and influenza virus-induced pneumonia were identified with Venn diagram established in Venny 2.1. The herb-component-disease-target(H-C-D-T) network was constructed by Cytoscape 3.7.2. The above data were imported into STRING for PPI network analysis. Gene Ontology(GO) enrichment and KEGG pathway enrichment were performed with DAVID. BALB/cAnN mice were infected with the influenza virus FM_1 by nasal drip to gene-rate the mouse model of pneumonia. Immunohistochemistry was adopted to the expression profiling of inflammatory cytokines in the lung tissues of mice in the blank group, model group, and P. chinensis group 1, 3, 5, and 7 days after infection. The pathological changes of lung and trachea of mice in blank group, model group, and P. chinensis group were observed with light microscope and scanning electron microscope at all the time points. The network pharmacological analysis indicated that 9 compounds of P. chinensis were screened out, with a total of 57 targets, 22 of which were overlapped with those of influenza virus-induced pneumonia. A total of 112 GO terms(P<0.05) were enriched, including 81 terms of biological processes, 11 terms of cell components, and 20 terms of molecular functions. A total of 53 KEGG signaling pathways(P<0.05) were enriched, including TNF signaling pathway, influenza A signaling pathway, NF-κB signaling pathway, MAPK signaling pathway and other signaling pathways related to influenza/inflammation. In the P. chinensis group, the expression of TNF-α and IL-1 in the lung tissue was down-regulated on the 3 rd day after infection, and that of IL-6 in the lung tissue was down-regulated on the 5 th day after infection. Light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy showed that P. chinensis significantly alleviated the pathological damage of lung and trachea compared with the model group. This study reflects the multi-components, multi-targets, and multi-pathways of P. chinensis against influenza virus-induced pneumonia. P. chinensis may reduce the production of proinflammatory cytokines and mediators and block the pro-inflammatory signaling pathways to alleviate viral pneumonia, which provides reference for future research.

Effect of Scutellariae Radix on expression of inflammatory cytokine protein and gene in lung of mice with viral pneumonia caused by influenza virus FM1 infection / 中国中药杂志

Mice models of viral pneumonia were induced by pulmonary adaptive strain FM1 of influenza A virus in Asian mice.RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry were used to dynamically observe the effect of Scutellariae Radix on the protein and gene expression of inflammatory cytokine in the lungs of the model mice infected by influenza virus FM1 at different phases. The partial mechanism of Scutellariae Radix in repairing the immune inflammatory damage of target organs of pneumonia caused by influenza virus was further explored. The results showed that Scutellariae Radix reduced protein and gene expression of proinflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor( TNF-α),interleukin IL-1,IL-6 in lung tissues from 3 rd to 5 th day after infection,and increased protein and gene expression of IL-10 and IFN-γ in lung tissues on the 5 th day after infection. Scutellariae Radix may inhibit excessive release of pro-inflammatory cytokines and promote the expression of anti-inflammatory cytokines,thereby inhibiting the systemic inflammatory response syndrome,reducing the immunoinflammatory pathological damage of lung caused by influenza virus FM1 infection,and promoting lung repair of tissue inflammatory lesions.

The influence of representative herbs of clearing and detoxifying drugs effect on inflammatory cytokines expression of mice lung homogenate infected by influenza virus FM1 / 中华实验和临床病毒学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>In order to screen out a certain kind of traditional medicine which has a better role in immune regulatory, the influence of representatives of heat clearing and detoxicating herb on inflammatory cytokines protein expression of mice lung homogenate infected by FM1 have been observed.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Modeling mice infected by FM1. On the first, third, fifth and seventh day after FM1 infection, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin-1 (IL-1), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-10 (IL-10), and gamma-interferon (IFN-gamma) expression in mice lung homogenate of normal control group, model control group, scutellari group, isatidis group, pulsatilla group, polygonum cuspidatum group and oldenlandia group have been tested by ELISA method.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>The expression of TNF-alpha, IL-6, IFN-gamma and IL-10 in mice lung homogenate reaches its peak on the third day after FM1 infection, significantly higher than the control group (P < 0.05). Scutellari and isatidis are two representatives of heat clearing and detoxicating herb, which can decrease the expression of TNF-alpha, IL-6 and IL-1 and increase the expression of IL-10, IFN-gamma. The effect are more pronounced and statistically significant (P < 0.05) on the third and fifth day after infection, pulsatilla, polygonum cuspidatum and oldenlandia can also regulate the inflammatory cytokines, but the effect are not so obvious as scutellari and isatidis.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Scutellari and isatidis, two representatives of heat clearing and detoxicating herb, have a good intervention on immune damage caused by influenza virus through adjusting the balance of inflammatory cytokines and anti-inflammatory cytokines.</p>