Effect of Kadsura coccinea Alcohol Extract on Immunologic Hepatic Fibrosis In Rats / 中国药学杂志

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To study the effects of Kadsura coccinea alcohol extract(KCAE) on rats with immunologic hepatic fibrosis and research the possible mechanisms in it. METHODS: Totally 60 SD male rats were randomly divided into 6 groups a normal control group,a model group, a compound Biejia-ruangan tablets group(0.7 g•kg-1), KCAE high, middle and low dose groups(1.68, 0.84, 0.42 g•kg-1) at ten in each groups. Except for the normal control group,other groups were duplicated intraperitoneal injection of porcine serum twice a week at dose of 0.5 mL•time-1. The rats in treatment groups were intragastric administration respectively, meanwhile, the rats in normal control and model groups were treated with the same volume of distilled water, once a day for 15 weeks. The liver was weighed to calculate the liver index. Alanine aminotransferase(ALT), aspartate aminotransferase(AST), total protein(TP), albumin(ALB) and total bilirubin(TB) were evaluated by the Mind-Ray automatic biochaemical analyzer. The expression level of procollagen III(PCIII), collagen type (-C), laminin(LN), hyaluronic acid(HA), transforming growth factor-β1(TGF-β1), interkeukin-10(IL-10), interferon-γ(IFN-γ) and tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α) in serum were detected by ELISA. The degrees of fibrosis were evaluated by HE and Masson straining, and the expression levels of TGF-β1 in liver tissue were assessed by Western blot. RESULTS: Compared with model group, the liver index of KCAE high-dose group was decreased significantly(P0.05). KCAE could decrease the level of PCIII, IV-C, LN, HA, TGF-β1, TNF-α and increase the level of IFN-γ in serum. KCAE could alleviate the hepatic fibrosis in rats(P<0.01) and inhibit the expression of TGF-β1 in the liver tissues significantly(P<0.01). CONCLUSION: KCAE has an anti-immunologic hepatic fibrosis effect in rats and the mechanisms possibly involve effectively regulating inflammatory cytokines, reducing extracellular matrix expression and inhibiting the expression of TGF-β1.