Protective effect of isoliquiritigenin in amiodarone-induced damage of human umbilical vein endothelial cells.

OBJECTIVE: Amiodarone (AM) is a drug commonly used in patients with ventricular arrhythmias. It can damage vascular endothelial cells and easily cause phlebitis. At present, the prevention and treatment of phlebitis induced by the use of AM is not clear due to the lack of corresponding primary research. Isoliquiritigenin (ISL) has an anti-inflammatory effect, but until now, has not been explored much in the field of research in primary care nursing. The purpose of this study is to investigate the efficacy and mechanism of action of ISL in treating phlebitis induced by AM. METHODS: In our study, we used human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) that were divided into three groups: the NC group (normal), the AM group (AM 30 µmol/L for 24 h), and the ISL pretreatment group (isoliquiritigenin 10 µmol/L after 1 h of pretreatment with amiodarone for 24 h). We used CCK-8 to detect cell proliferation, cell scratch assay to detect the migration capability of cells, flow cytometry to measure apoptosis, angiogenesis assay to check the total length and total branches of angiogenesis, and PCR and WB to detect the expression of PCNA, casepase-3, and VEGFA. WB was used to detect NF-κBp65 and p-NF-κBp65 expression. RESULTS: Compared with the AM group, the ISL pretreatment promoted cell proliferation and migration, inhibited cell apoptosis, increased the total length and total branches of angiogenesis, and downregulated p-NF-κBp65 expression. CONCLUSION: ISL shows promise in the prevention and treatment of clinical phlebitis and can be used as a potential therapeutic drug to prevent phlebitis.

Peiminine Suppresses RANKL-Induced Osteoclastogenesis by Inhibiting the NFATc1, ERK, and NF-κB Signaling Pathways.

Osteoclasts (OCs) play an important role in osteoporosis, a disease that is mainly characterized by bone loss. In our research, we aimed to identify novel approach for regulating osteoclastogenesis and thereby treating osteoporosis. Previous studies have set a precedent for screening traditional Chinese herbal extracts for effective inhibitors. Peiminine is an alkaloid extracted from the bulb of Fritillaria thunbergii Miq that reportedly has anticancer and anti-inflammatory effects. Thus, the potential inhibitory effect of peiminine on OC differentiation was investigated via a series of experiments. According to the results, peiminine downregulated the levels of specific genes and proteins in vitro and consequently suppressed OC differentiation and function. Based on these findings, we further investigated the underlying molecular mechanisms and identified the NF-κB and ERK1/2 signaling pathways as potential targets of peiminine. In vivo, peiminine alleviated bone loss in an ovariectomized mouse model.