title: The four-herb Chinese medicine ANBP enhances wound healing and inhibits scar formation via bidirectional regulation of transformation growth factor pathway.
abstract: The four-herb Chinese medicine ANBP is a pulverized mixture of four herbs including Agrimonia Eupatoria (A), Nelumbo Nucifera Gaertn (N), Boswellia Carteri (B) and Pollen Typhae Angustifoliae (P). The combination of the four herbs was first described in Chinese canonical medicine about 2000 years ago for treatment of various trauma disorders, such as hemostasis, antiinflammatory, analgesia, and wound healing, etc. However, the precise mechanisms of ANBP are still unclear. In our study, using rabbit ear hypertrophic scar models of full-thickness skin defect, we showed that local ANBP treatment not only significantly enhanced wound healing by relieving inflammation, increasing formation of granulation tissue and accelerating re-epithelialization, but also reduced scar formation by decreasing collagen production, protuberant height and volume of scars, and increasing collagen maturity. We demonstrated that these effects of ANBP are associated with transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1-mediated signalling pathways through Smad-dependent pathways. ANBP treatment significantly increased expression of TGF-β1 and Smad2/3 mRNA at the early stage of wound healing, and led to markedly decrease expression of TGF-β1 and Smad2/3 compared with the control group after 14 days post-wounding. Taken together, our results defined a bidirectional regulation role of ANBP for TGF-β1/Smad pathway in promoting wound healing and alleviating scar formation, which may be an effective therapy for human wounds at the earliest stage.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Basic Medicine, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, P. R. China; Department of Internal Medicine, Chinese PLA 148th Hospital, Zibo, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.affiliation: Institute of Basic Medicine, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, P. R. China; Wound Healing and Cell Biology Laboratory, the First Affiliated Hospital, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Wen-Jun
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Institute of Basic Medicine, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Hao-Jie
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Hao
authors.affiliation: Institute of Basic Medicine, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Qing-Wang
authors.initials: QW
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Institute of Basic Medicine, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Basic Medicine, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Institute of Basic Medicine, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Jie-Jie
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Basic Medicine, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Institute of Basic Medicine, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Ya-Jing
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Basic Medicine, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Ying-Zhi
authors.initials: YZ
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Institute of Basic Medicine, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Wei-Dong
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Institute of Basic Medicine, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, P. R. China; Wound Healing and Cell Biology Laboratory, the First Affiliated Hospital, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Bing
authors.initials: XB
authors.lastname: Fu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017439:Cicatrix, Hypertrophic / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D003094:Collagen / Q000378:metabolism; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004423:Ear / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000187:drug effects; D018836:Inflammation Mediators / Q000378:metabolism; D011208:Powders; D011817:Rabbits; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects*; D051785:Smad Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D013696:Temperature; D053773:Transforming Growth Factor beta1 / Q000378:metabolism*; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D018836:Inflammation Mediators; D011208:Powders; D051785:Smad Proteins; D053773:Transforming Growth Factor beta1; D003094:Collagen