title: [Effects of Chinese herbal medicine Yinchenhao Decoction on expressions of apoptosis-related genes in dimethylnitrosamine- or carbon tetrachloride-induced liver cirrhosis in rats].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the different efficacy of Yinchenhao Decoction (YCHD), a compound traditional Chinese herbal medicine, for liver cirrhosis induced by dimethylnitrosamine (DMN) or carbon tetrachloride (CCl(4)) in rats.
  
  
  METHODS
  To induce liver fibrosis, 0.5% DMN solution (2mL/kg body weight, i.p.) was given three consecutive days a week to male Wistar rats for 4 weeks. Cirrhotic rats were randomly divided into DMN group, YCHD group, Xiaochaihu decoction group by the end of the fourth week to accomplish a 2-week recipe treatment course. In CCl(4)-induced liver fibrosis model, 50% CCl(4)-olive solution was injected subcutaneously to rats at a dose of 2 mL/kg body weight twice a week to duplicate rat cirrhosis model. After 8 weeks, rats were divided into CCl(4) group, CCl(4) plus YCHD group and Xiaochaihu decoction group. For the YCHD group, YCHD was administered intragastrically once a day for 4 weeks. For DMN or CCl(4) model, by the end of 6 or 12 weeks respectively, rats were sacrificed for sampling to detect liver function, hepatic histological changes, hydroxyproline (Hyp) content and apoptosis-related gene expressions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In DMN liver fibrosis model, hepatic fibrosis was obvious at week 2 and cirrhosis was evident at week 4 in DMN-treated rats. Compared to 6-week DMN group, hepatic pathological changes and liver function were improved significantly and content of Hyp decreased remarkably in YCHD group. In CCl(4)-induced liver fibrosis model, hepatic fibrosis was obvious at 8 weeks and cirrhosis was evident at 12 weeks in CCl(4)-treated rats. Compared to 12-week CCl(4) group, hepatic pathological changes and liver function were not obviously improvement in YCHD group. The results of gene chip showed that YCHD significantly decreased Fas, Bax and caspase-3 gene expressions, and increased Bcl-xL gene expression in the liver of DMN model. However, in the model induced by CCl(4), YCHD did not inhibit hepatocyte apoptosis induced by CCl(4), but increased tyrosine kinase receptor gene expression by 4.8 times.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  YCHD exerts more significant therapeutic effects on DMN-induced than CCl(4)-induced cirrhosis in rats in Hyp content and pathological change in liver tissue.
authors.affiliation: Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 201203, China.
authors.forename: Ming-yu
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yong-ping
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Mu
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yan-qin
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Bian
authors.forename: Xiao-ning
authors.initials: XN
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D002251:Carbon Tetrachloride / Q000009:adverse effects; D053148:Caspase 3 / Q000378:metabolism; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015870:Gene Expression / Q000187:drug effects*; D008106:Liver Cirrhosis, Experimental / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D051020:bcl-X Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D019014:fas Receptor / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: C494828:Bax protein, rat; C494813:Bcl2l1 protein, rat; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; C491898:Fas protein, rat; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein; D051020:bcl-X Protein; D019014:fas Receptor; D002251:Carbon Tetrachloride; C505410:Casp3 protein, rat; D053148:Caspase 3