Steroidal alkaloids ameliorate cell proliferation, oxidative stress, inflammation and histology outcome in vitro and in vivo

ABSTRACT

Objective: To investigate the effects of steroidal alkaloids and sarcovagine D isolated from Sarcococca hookeriana var. digyna on cell-proliferation and secretion of inflammatory cytokines in TNF-α-induced human RA-FLS MH7A in vitro, and against complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA)-induced arthritis rats in vivo. Methods: CCK-8 assay was utilized to evaluate the anti-proliferation activity in vitro. In in-vivo study, rats were randomly divided into control group, model group (CFA), steroidal alkaloids (STA) groups (5.0, 2.5 and 1.25 g/kg BW), and sarcovagine D (SD) groups (50, 100 and 200 mg/kg BW), 10 rats for each group. To evaluate the anti-inflammation effect, the histology, biochemical parameters and expression of inflammatory cytokines were detected. Results: Steroidal alkaloids and sarcovagine D showed strong anti-proliferative activity during MH7A cell culture proliferation and downregulated NO levels, and inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6 and PGE