ABSTRACT
Baicalin is the main flavonoid from the roots of an important medicinal plant, Scutellaria baicalensis, which shows a variety biological activities. Psoriasis is a chronic immune-mediated inflammatory disease that affects the skin. The unmet need of psoriasis is that many patients do not respond adequately to available clinical treatment. In this study, we found that baicalin showed inhibited dermal inflammation in a murine model of psoriasis via topical application of imiquimod. After a 5-day topical imiquimod application, baicalin or the control vehicle cream was to applied to the lesions of BALB/c mice for a further 4 days. The erythema, scaling, and thickness of the epidermal layer significantly improved in the baicalin-treated mice. The levels of interleukin-17A, interleukin-22, interleukin-23, and tumor necrosis factor in the skin significantly decreased after baicalin treatment. Baicalin also inhibited imiquimod-induced interleukin-17A production in skin draining lymph node cells. The infiltration of γδ T cells into the skin lesions induced by imiquimod was also suppressed after baicalin treatment. These results suggest that baicalin inhibited skin inflammation through the inhibition of the interleukin-17/interleukin-23 axis in a murine model of psoriasis.
Subject(s)
Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal/pharmacology , Cytokines/metabolism , Drug Eruptions/drug therapy , Flavonoids/pharmacology , Psoriasis/drug therapy , Aminoquinolines/adverse effects , Animals , Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal/chemistry , Disease Models, Animal , Drug Eruptions/pathology , Female , Flavonoids/chemistry , Humans , Imiquimod , Interleukin-17/metabolism , Mice , Mice, Inbred BALB C , Psoriasis/pathology , Receptors, Interleukin/metabolism , Skin/pathologyABSTRACT
To further unravel adsorption mechanisms of effluent organic matter (EfOM) on the PVDF ultrafiltration membranes modified by nano-silica particles from micro perspective during different filtration phases, the membranes were prepared by adjusting the dosage of nano-silicon. The adsorption of EfOM on the surface of the membranes and the interaction between EfOM and the membranes were measured by quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) and atomic force microscopy (AFM).The QCM-D results suggested that adsorbing capacity and adsorption rate of EfOM on the hydrophilic surfaces were lower than on the hydrophobic surfaces. Meanwhile, it was found that EfOM underwent adsorption via two steps: In the initial 15 min stage, a rapid adsorption of EfOM accumulated onto the membrane surface; The change in dissipation still occurred when the EfOM adsorption frequency reached balance, which demonstrated that the adsorption of EfOM remained unchanged on the membrane surfaces, and changes in the conformation of adsorption layer still occurred. For the AFM force test, it was found that the EfOM-membranes and EfOM-EfOM interactions declined with the increase of hydrophily, which revealed the essential reason for the decrease of adsorbing capacity and adsorption rate. The combined utilization of QCM-D and AFM effectively explained the effect of modified membranes on adsorption mechanisms of EfOM.
