title: Oxymatrine reduces neuroinflammation in rat brain: A signaling pathway.
abstract: Cerebral neuroinflammation models were established by injecting 10 μg lipopolysaccharide into the hippocampus of male Sprague-Dawley rats. The rats were treated with an intraperitoneal injection of 120, 90, or 60 mg/kg oxymatrine daily for three days prior to the lipopolysaccharide injection. Twenty-four hours after model induction, the hippocampus was analyzed by real-time quantitative PCR, and the cerebral cortex was analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and western blot assay. The results of the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and the real-time quantitative PCR showed that the secretion and mRNA expression of the pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin-1β and tumor necrosis factor-α were significantly decreased in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex of model rats treated with oxymatrine. Western blot assay and real-time quantitative PCR analysis indicated that toll-like receptor 4 mRNA and protein expression were significantly decreased in the groups receiving different doses of oxymatrine. Additionally, 120 and 90 mg/kg oxymatrine were shown to reduce protein levels of nuclear factor-κB p65 in the nucleus and of phosphorylated IκBα in the cytoplasm of brain cells, as detected by western blot assay. Experimental findings indicate that oxymatrine may inhibit neuroinflammation in rat brain via downregulating the expression of molecules in the toll-like receptor 4/nuclear factor-κB signaling pathway.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathophysiology, Medical School of Nantong University, Nantong 226001, Jiangsu Province, China.
authors.forename: Jiahui
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathophysiology, Medical School of Nantong University, Nantong 226001, Jiangsu Province, China.
authors.forename: Yae
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathophysiology, Medical School of Nantong University, Nantong 226001, Jiangsu Province, China.
authors.forename: Ailing
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, the First People's Hospital of Nantong, Nantong 226001, Jiangsu Province, China.
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Undergraduate of Medical School of Nantong University, Nantong 226001, Jiangsu Province, China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Undergraduate of Medical School of Nantong University, Nantong 226001, Jiangsu Province, China.
authors.forename: Yueming
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Du
authors.affiliation: Undergraduate of Medical School of Nantong University, Nantong 226001, Jiangsu Province, China.
authors.forename: Jia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Undergraduate of Medical School of Nantong University, Nantong 226001, Jiangsu Province, China.
authors.forename: Jinyang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Undergraduate of Medical School of Nantong University, Nantong 226001, Jiangsu Province, China.
authors.forename: Pengcheng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhou
keywords: cerebral cortex; hippocampus; inflammatory factors; lipopolysaccharide; neural regeneration; neuroinflammation; nuclear factor-κB; oxymatrine; signaling pathway; toll-like receptor 4