Effect of total flavonoids of buckwheat flower and leaf on myocardial cell apoptosis and Wnt/β-catenin/PPARγ pathway in arrhythmic rats / 中国中药杂志

This paper aimed to investigate the effect of total flavonoids of buckwheat flower and leaf on myocardial cell apoptosis and Wnt/β-catenin/peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ(PPARγ) pathway in arrhythmic rats. SD rats were randomly divided into a control group, a model group, a low-dose(20 mg·kg~(-1)) group of total flavonoids of buckwheat flower and leaf, a medium-dose(40 mg·kg~(-1)) group of total flavonoids of buckwheat flower and leaf, a high-dose(80 mg·kg~(-1)) group of total flavonoids of buckwheat flower and leaf, a propranolol hydrochloride(2 mg·kg~(-1)) group, with 12 rats in each group. Except the control group, rats in other groups were prepared as models of arrhythmia by sublingual injection of 1 mL·kg~(-1) of 0.002% aconitine. After grouping and intervention with drugs, the arrhythmia, myocardial cells apoptosis, myocardial tissue glutathione peroxidase(GSH-Px), catalase(CAT), malondialdehyde(MDA), serum interleukin-6(IL-6), prostaglandin E2(PGE2) levels, myocardial tissue apoptosis, and Wnt/β-catenin/PPARγ pathway-related protein expression of rats in each group were measured. As compared with the control group, the arrhythmia score, the number of ventricular premature beats, ventricular fibrillation duration, myocardial cell apoptosis rate, MDA levels in myocardial tissues, serum IL-6 and PGE2 levels, Bax in myocardial tissues, and Wnt1 and β-catenin protein expression levels increased significantly in the model group, whereas the GSH-Px and CAT levels, and Bcl-2 and PPARγ protein expression levels in myocardial tissues reduced significantly. As compared with the model group, the arrhythmia score, the number of ventricular premature beats, ventricular fibrillation duration, myocardial cell apoptosis rate, MDA leve in myocardial tissues, serum IL-6 and PGE2 levels, Bax in myocardial tissues, and Wnt1 and β-catenin protein expression levels reduced in the drug intervention groups, whereas the GSH-Px and CAT levels and Bcl-2 and PPARγ protein expression levels in myocardial tissues increased. The groups of total flavonoids of buckwheat flower and leaf were in a dose-dependent manner. There was no significant difference in the levels of each index in rats between the propranolol hydrochloride group and the high-dose group of total flavonoids of buckwheat flower and leaf. The total flavonoids of buckwheat flower and leaf inhibit the activation of Wnt/β-catenin pathway, up-regulate the expression of PPARγ, reduce oxidative stress and inflammatory damage in myocardial tissues of arrhythmic rats, reduce myocardial cell apoptosis, and improve the symptoms of arrhythmia in rats.

Characterization of the transcriptional profiles in common buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) under PEG-mediated drought stress

BACKGROUND: Common buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) is an important staple food crop in southwest China, where drought stress is one of the largest limiting factors that lead to decreased crop production. To reveal the molecular mechanism of common buckwheat in response to drought stress, we performed a comprehensive transcriptomics study to evaluate gene expression profiles of common buckwheat during PEG-mediated drought treatment. RESULTS: In total, 45 million clean reads were assembled into 53,404 unigenes with an average length of 749 bp and N50 length of 1296 bp. A total of 1329 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified by comparing wellwatered and drought-treated plants, out of which 666 were upregulated and 663 were downregulated. Furthermore, we defined the functional characteristics of DEGs using GO and KEGG classifications. GO enrichment analysis showed that the DEGs were significantly overrepresented in four categories, namely, "oxidoreductase activity," "oxidation­reduction process," "xyloglucan:xyloglucosyl transferase activity," and "apoplast." Using KEGG pathway analysis, a large number of annotated genes were overrepresented in terms such as "plant hormone signal transduction," "phenylpropanoid biosynthesis," "photosynthesis," and "carbon metabolism." Conclusions: These results can be further exploited to investigate the molecular mechanism of common buckwheat in response to drought treatment and could supply with valuable molecular sources for abiotic-tolerant elite breeding programs in the future.