[Effects of Chinese herbs for replenishing qi and resolving stagnation on hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha and vascular endothelial growth factor in granulation tissue of skin ulcers in rats with diabetes].
OBJECTIVE
To explore the effects of Chinese herbs for replenishing qi and resolving stagnation on hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha (HIF-1alpha) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in granulation tissue of skin ulcers in rats with syndrome of blood stasis and qi deficiency.


METHODS
Diabetic rats with back full-thickness skin lesion and syndrome of blood stasis and qi deficiency were divided in to five groups: untreated group, basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF)-treated group, Yiqi Huayu Recipe (a recipe for replenishing qi and resolving stagnation)-treated group, Yiqi Recipe (a recipe for replenishing qi)-treated group and Huayu Recipe (a recipe for resolving stagnation)-treated group, and another eight normal rats served as normal control group. Immunohistochemical method and image analysis were used to test the expressions of HIF-1alpha and VEGF in granulation tissue of skin ulcers in rats with diabetes.


RESULTS
In the untreated group, the expression of HIF-1alpha was significantly increased and the expression of VEGF was significantly decreased as compared with those in the normal control group (P<0.01). The expression of HIF-1alpha was obviously lower (P<0.01) and the expression of VEGF was significantly higher in the four drug treated groups as compared with those in the untreated group. In the Yiqi Huayu Recipe-treated group, the expression of HIF-1alpha was obviously lower than those in the bFGF-treated, Yiqi Recipe-treated and Huayu Recipe-treated groups (P<0.05 or P<0.01), and the expression of VEGF was significantly higher than that in the bFGF-treated group (P<0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
Chinese herbs for replenishing qi and resolving stagnation can promote the wound healing in rats through reducing the expression of HIF-1alpha, accelerating the expression of VEGF in granulation tissue of skin ulcers in rats with diabetes and ameliorating the status of ischemia and hypoxia.
Que
Hua-fa
HF
Institute of Chinese Traditional Surgery, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200032, China. huafaque@126.com
Zhu
Yuan-yin
YY
Wang
Yun-fei
YF
Zhang
Zhen
Z
Xu
Jie-nan
JN
Xing
Jie
J
Tang
Han-jun
HJ
D000818:Animals; D003921:Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental / Q000150:complications / Q000378:metabolism*; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006097:Granulation Tissue / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D051795:Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D008297:Male; D019413:Qi; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012883:Skin Ulcer / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism*; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000187:drug effects
D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D051795:Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A