Panax notoginseng saponins inhibits early-stage cell apoptosis in steonecrosis of rabbit femoral head / 西安交通大学学报(医学版)

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the effects of panax notoginseng saponins (PNS) on early-stage apoptosis in steonecrosis of rabbit femoral head .Methods The 24 rabbits were randomly divided into three groupsnormal control group ,model group ,and PNS group .In model group ,equine serum (10 mL/kg) and methylprednisolone (40 mg/kg) were injected alternatively to induce osteonecrosis of the femoral head .In PNS group ,PNS (50 mg/kg , i .v .) was administered continuously before methylprednisolone management .In control group ,the rabbits were fed routinely .TUNEL method was used to detect apoptotic cells .Caspase-3 activity in the femoral head was measured by caspase-3 assay kit . Immunohistochemistry method and Western blot analysis were applied to detect the expressions of Bcl-2 and Bax .Results In model group ,typical appearance of apoptotic cells was observed in the femoral head by TUNEL staining (P< 0 .05) .PNS treatment significantly inhibited cell apoptosis of the femoral head in model group .Furthermore ,pretreatment with PNS significantly reversed the inhibition of Bcl-2 expression , augmentation of Bax expression and caspase-3 activity ( P< 0 .05 ) . Conclusion PNS could up-regulate the expression of Bcl-2 ,down-regulate that of Bax ,reduce the activity of caspase-3 ,and inhibit cell apoptosis of the femoral head .