Total glucosides of peony as adjuvant therapy for prevention of cardiac allograft rejection in rats / 中西医结合学报

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the role of total glucosides of peony (TGP) as adjuvant therapy for prevention of cardiac allograft rejection in rats. METHODS: Rats with cardiac allograft were randomly divided into control group, tacrolimus-treated group, TGP-treated group and tacrolimus plus TGP-treated group. Graft survival time was observed. Allografts in some cases were examined by histological study seven days after transplantation. At the same time, the levels of CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cell subsets in peripheral blood were examined by using flow cytometry; the hepatic function and renal function of recipients were also tested. RESULTS: The graft survival time of the tacrolimus-treated group and tacrolimus plus TGP-treated group was (11.14+/-1.57) d and (13.57+/-1.99) d, respectively. The graft survival time of the tacrolimus plus TGP-treated group was longer than that of the tacrolimus-treated group (P<0.05). The histological study showed that the rejection of the tacrolimus plus TGP-treated group was slighter than that of the tacrolimus-treated group. The levels of CD4(+) T cell subset in the peripheral blood of the tacrolimus-treated and tacrolimus plus TGP-treated groups were (38.71+/-5.15)% and (32.43+/-4.39)% respectively 7 days after transplantation. The level of CD4(+) T cell subset in the tacrolimus plus TGP-treated group was lower than that in the tacrolimus-treated group (P<0.05). The level of CD8(+) T cell subset and the hepatic and renal function had no significant differences between the tacrolimus-treated group and the tacrolimus plus TGP-treated group. CONCLUSION: Effects of tacrolimus plus TGP in prevention of rejection are better than tacrolimus monotherapy in rats with cardiac allograft and without increasing side effects.