Investigation on Anti-atherosclerosis Mechanism of Tiaopi Huxin Prescription Based on Cav- 1/NF-κB Pathway / 中国药房

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE： To study the effects of Tiaopi huxin prescription （TPHXP） on the atherosclerosis （AS） of ApoE－/－ mice， and to investigate its mechanism. METHODS： Forty male ApoE－/－ mice were divided into blank group， model group， simvastatin group （positive control， 5 mg/kg） and TPHXP low-dose and high-dose groups （50， 150 mg/kg）， with 8 mice in each group. Except that blank group was given common diet， other groups were given high-lipid diet to induce AS model. After modeling， administration groups were given relevant medicine intragastrically， and blank group and model group were given constant volume of normal saline intragastrically， once a day， for consecutive 12 weeks. After last medication， the serum levels of TC， TG， LDL-C and HDL-C were determined by spectrophotometry. The serum level of NO was detected by nitrate reduction method. The serum levels of IL-6 and VCAM-1 were determined by ELISA. After separating thoracic aorta， HE staining was used to observe the formation of plaque in the thoracic aorta of mice in each group， and the corrected plaque area was calculated. Western blotting was conducted to determine the expression of NF-κB p65， Cav-1 and eNOS. RESULTS： Compared with blank group， the serum levels of TC， TG， LDL-C， IL-6 and VCAM-1 were increased significantly in model group， while the levels of HDL-C and NO were decreased significantly （P＜0.01）. The plaque of thoracic aorta was obvious and the corrected plaque area were increased significantly （P＜0.01）. The relative expression of NF-κB p65 and Cav-1 were increased significantly， while the relative expression of eNOS was decreased significantly （P＜0.01）. Compared with model group， the serum levels of TC， TG and LDL-C in administration groups， the serum levels of IL-6 and VCAM-1 in simvastatin group and TPHXP high-dose group were decreased significantly， while the serum levels of HDL-C and NO were increased significantly in administration groups （P＜0.05 or P＜0.01）. In administration groups， the plaques of thoracic aorta were reduced and the corrected plaque area was decreased significantly （P＜0.05 or P＜0.01）； the relative expression of NF-κB p65 and Cav-1 were decreased significantly， while the relative expression of eNOS was increased significantly （P＜0.05 or P＜0.01）. CONCLUSIONS： TPHXP can regulate the level of blood lipid， decrease the level of inflammatory factors and inhibit the formation of AS plaque， the mechanism of which may be associated with inhibiting Cav-1/NF-κB pathway.