ABSTRACT
Objective To evaluate the effects of andrographolide and budesonide (BUD) on eosinophil (EOS) counts and neutrophilic and the expressions of IL-17,IL-23 in asthmatic mice.Methods BALB/c mice were randomly divided into asthmatic group,andrographolide group,BUD group and control group,8 mice in each group.The mice were sensitized and challenged by ovalbumin(OVA) to establish asthmatic mice model.Two groups of mice were treated with andrographolide and BUD,respectively.Twenty-four hours after the last administration,inflammatory cell count,cell classification in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and lung histological examination were carried out.Wright-Giemsa was used to count total,EOS,neutrophilic cells of BALF.Meanwhile,ELISA was used to detect the concentrations of IL-17 and IL-23 of BALF and peripheral blood.The expressions of IL-17 mRNA and IL-23 mRNA of the lung tissue were detected by quantitive Real-time PCR.Results Total cell and EOS counts in BALF of 2 treatment groups [(111.98 ± 3.28) × 107/L and (64.16 ± 36.75) × 107/L,(131.29 ± 4.89) × 107/L and (82.40 ± 11.48) × 107/L] decreased significantly compared with asthma group[(208.78 ± 18.52) × 107/L and (106.80 ± 13.90) × 107/L] (all P ＜ 0.05).IL-17 protein levels in BALF and peripheral blood were not significantly different between administration groups(P ＞ 0.05).IL-23 protein levels in BALF of BUD treated group[89.92 (113.87-67.79) ng/L]were significantly lower than asthma group [93.30 (173.39-42.95) ng/L] (P ＜ 0.05).IL-23 mRNA expressions in treatment groups[2.14 (8.54-0.22) and 1.18 (4.58-0.25)] were significantly suppressed when compared with asthmatic group[5.08 (10.14-1.42)] (P ＜ 0.05),while IL-17 mRNA expressions had no significant difference between them(P ＞ 0.05).Conclusions Andrographolide and BUD can suppress the infiltration of total inflammatory cells and EOS expression IL-23 mRNA in BALF.They had no significant impact on the neutrophilic cells counts and expression of IL-17 in BALF.
ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>Andrographolide, the active component in andrographis paniculata, has potent anti-inflammatory actions. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of andrographolide on eosinophil granulocytes (EOS) and the expression of eotaxin and IL-5 in mice with asthma.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>BALB/c mice were randomly assigned into normal control, asthma, budesonide treatment and andrographolide treatment groups (n=8 each). Mice in the latter three groups were sensitized and challenged with ovalbumin (OVA) to induce asthma. ELISA was used to detect the concentrations of eotaxin and IL-5 in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and peripheral blood. The expression of eotaxin mRNA and IL-5 mRNA in lung tissues was detected by real-time quantitative PCR.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Andrographolide treatment significantly decreased EOS count in BALF (P<0.05) and the effect of andrographolide was better than the effect of budesonide. Andrographolide treatment significantly down-regulated the expression of eotaxin and IL-5 in BALF, lung eotaxin mRNA expression and blood IL-5 expression (P<0.05), but the effects of andrographolide were poorer than the effects of budesonide. Andrographolide treatment resulted in a decrease in blood eotaxin expression and lung IL-5 mRNA expression and the effects of andrographolide were similar to budesonide.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Andrographolide can down-regulate the expression of IL-5 and eotaxin and thus suppress the inflitration of EOS in a mouse model of asthma.</p>
