Effect of triptolide on fibrosis in a mouse model of cerulean-induced chronic pancreatitis / 临床肝胆病杂志

ABSTRACT

ObjectiveTo investigate the effect of triptolide on fibrosis in mice with cerulein-induced chronic pancreatitis (CP) based on the nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB)/interleukin-6 (IL-6) signaling pathway. MethodsA total of 15 male C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into control group (treated with normal saline), cerulein group (model mice with cerulein-induced CP), and triptolide group (induced by cerulean and treated with triptolide), with 5 mice in each group. Samples were collected for detection after 6 weeks. The weight of the pancreas was measured; HE staining, picrosirius red staining, and Masson staining were used to observe pancreatic histomorphology and collagen deposition; ELISA was used to measure the expression of IL-6 in serum; immunohistochemistry was used to measure the expression of alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and NF-κB/p65; Western blot was used to measure the expression of NF-κB/p65, IL-6, and α-SMA. A one-way analysis of variance was used for comparison of continuous data between multiple groups, and the least significant difference t-test was used for further comparison between two groups. ResultsThere were significant differences between the three groups in the weight of the pancreas, IL-6 concentration, pathological score, picrosirius red staining results, Masson staining results, and mean optical density of positive α-SMA signal and positive NF-κB/p65 signal(F=64.87, 15.85, 145.33, 141.80, 121.77, 250.22, and 69.22, all P＜0.001). Compared with the cerulein group, the triptolide group had a significant increase in the weight of the pancreas and significant reductions in the expression of IL-6, pancreatic fibrosis, collagen deposition, and the expression of α-SMA and NF-κB/p65 (all P＜0.05). Western blotting showed that there were significant differences in the expression of NF-κB/p65, IL-6, and α-SMA between the three groups (F=8.86, 6.74, and 16.23, all P＜0.05), and compared with the cerulein group, the triptolide group had significantly lower expression of NF-κB/p65, IL-6, and α-SMA in the pancreatic tissue (all P＜0.05). ConclusionTriptolide alleviates fibrosis in mice with cerulein-induced CP and inhibit the protein expression of NF-κB/p65 and IL-6.