Research on Effective Parts of Xiong-Shao Decoction on Regulating TGF-β/Smad Pathway / 世界科学技术-中医药现代化

ABSTRACT

This study was aimed to study the therapeutic material basis of Xiong-Shao decoction (XSD) on hepatic fi-brosis (HF), and to screen the effective parts from XSD for regulating TGF-β/Smad pathway. Male Wistar rats were randomly divided into the normal group, the model group, the Fu-Zheng Hua-Y u (FZHY) capsule group, the XSD group, the crude polysaccharide group, the total glycosides group, and the total alkaloids group. Rats of the modeling group were intraperitoneally injected with dimethylnitrosamine (DMN) to establish HF model. After modeling, FZHY capsule solution (0.105 g·mL-1), XSD crude polysaccharides extract solution (35.420 mg·mL-1), XSD total glycosides extract solution (25.725 mg·mL-1), and XSD total alkaloids extract solution (0.196 mg·mL-1) were administered to the corresponding treatment group by gavage once a day for 4 weeks, respectively. Rats of the normal group and the model group were given equivalent amount of normal saline by gavage once a day for 4 weeks. The treatment course was 4 weeks. The expression of TGF-β1 mRNA of the liver tissues was detected by FQ-PCR. And the protein ex-pressions of Smad3 and Smad7 were detected by western blotting analysis. The results showed that compared with the model group, there was no significant difference in the expression of Smad7 protein between the total glyco-sides group and the model group, as well as no significant difference between the total alkaloids group and the model group. Expressions of TGF-β1 mRNA and Smad3 protein of other treatment groups were significantly re-duced. And the expressions of their Smad7 protein were significantly increased (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). It was concluded that crude polysaccharide an d total glycosides fractions were the effective parts of XSD for regulating TGF-β/Smad pathway.