Amelioration of Danhong injection on the lipopolysaccharide-stimulated systemic acute inflammatory reaction via multi-target strategy

• Published in: Journal of ethnopharmacology 2013-10, Vol.149 (3), p.772-782
• Main Authors: Gao, Li-Na, Cui, Yuan-Lu, Wang, Qiang-Song, Wang, Shao-Xia
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: acute phase proteins; Animals; Anti-inflammatory; anti-inflammatory activity; Anti-Inflammatory Agents - administration & dosage; Anti-Inflammatory Agents - therapeutic use; Anti-Inflammatory Agents - toxicity; Carthamus tinctorius; Cell Culture Techniques; Cell Line; Cell Survival - drug effects; chemokines; Cyclooxygenase 2 - biosynthesis; Cytokines - blood; Dinoprostone - biosynthesis; Disease Models, Animal; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Drugs, Chinese Herbal - administration & dosage; Drugs, Chinese Herbal - therapeutic use; Drugs, Chinese Herbal - toxicity; enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; gene expression; inflammation; interleukin-1; interleukin-6; Kidney - drug effects; Kidney - immunology; kidneys; Lipopolysaccharides - toxicity; liver; Liver - drug effects; Liver - immunology; macrophages; Macrophages - drug effects; Macrophages - immunology; Male; medicine; messenger RNA; Mice; Mice, Inbred ICR; Molecular Targeted Therapy; myocardial ischemia; necrosis; nitric oxide; Nitric Oxide - biosynthesis; Polypharmacology; protective effect; protein synthesis; proteome; quantitative analysis; reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction; Salvia miltiorrhiza; secretion; Systemic inflammatory response syndrome; Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome - chemically induced; Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome - drug therapy; Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome - immunology; Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome - metabolism; Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM); tumor necrosis factor-alpha
• ISSN: 0378-8741; 1872-7573
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jep.2013.07.039

Systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), leading to dire consequences, is a serious and fatal disease in clinic. Danhong injection (DHI), one of the most popular medications for coronary heart disease and cerebral ischemia, plays pharmacological actions through inhibiting local inflammation. Nevertheless, the anti-inflammatory effect of DHI has not been reported before and has not been fully clarified. In this study, a model of systemic acute inflammatory reaction was induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to investigate whether DHI could be applied to SIRS through the anti-inflammatory effect. The anti-inflammatory effect of DHI in vivo was evaluated in ICR mice pretreated intraperitoneally (i.p.) with LPS (1mg/kg) and the serum, liver and kidney were collected. Interleukin (IL)-6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and monocyte chemotactic protein (MCP-1) in serum were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and the mRNA expressions of inducible NO synthase (iNOS), IL-6, interleukin (IL)-1β, MCP-1 in mice liver and kidney were analyzed by quantitative real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (real-time RT-PCR). Meanwhile, Proteome profiler array was used to screen the acute phase proteins, cytokines and chemokines activated in the acute inflammation. The inflammatory model of macrophages stimulated by LPS (0.2μg/mL) was used to evaluate the anti-inflammatory mechanism of DHI in vitro. The secretion of nitric oxide (NO) was measured by the Griess reagent system. The productions of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), IL-6, TNF-α and MCP-1 were detected using ELISA, and the protein expression of cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 was determined by cell-based ELISA. As well, the mRNA expressions of these inflammatory factors were detected by real-time RT-PCR. DHI could attenuate the inflammatory reaction via decreasing 20 cytokines and acute phase proteins analyzed by Proteome profile array in serum. The secretions of IL-6, TNF-α and MCP-1 in serum were coincidence with the result of Proteome profile array. Meanwhile, the mRNA expressions of iNOS, IL-6, IL-1β, MCP-1 in mice liver and kidney were significantly reduced by DHI. Experiments performed in vitro further revealed that the productions of NO, PGE2 and the mRNA expressions of iNOS, COX-2 were notably inhibited by DHI. Cell-based ELISA revealed that the COX-2 protein expression was diminished by DHI. The results of ELISA demonstrated that DHI significantly down-regulated the protein productions o