title: Evaluation of breviscapine on prevention of experimentally induced abdominal adhesions in rats.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Adhesion formation, which results from mechanical peritoneal damage, tissue ischemia, or the presence of foreign materials, is a complicated process. The formation of adhesions is associated with inflammatory response and extracellular matrix deposition in response to injury. Although the pathophysiology of adhesion formation is widely understood, an absolute solution to this problem does not exist yet. As a main component of Erigeron breviscapus, breviscapine has exhibited the ability of anti-inflammatory and antifibrosis on many diseases. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of breviscapine on the development of postoperative intra-abdominal adhesions in Wistar rats.
  
  
  METHODS
  Abdominal adhesions were induced by scraping the cecum in rats. Various dosages of breviscapine drugs were administered for 10 days after surgery. On the 11th day after surgery, the levels of interleukin (IL) 18, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor α in blood serum and transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1), connective tissue growth factor, tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1) in peritoneal fluid were determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. The expression of Smad7 and TGF-β1 in rat cecum tissue was evaluated by Western blot analysis. Grades of intestinal adhesion were ranked by macroscopic observation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The intraperitoneal administration of breviscapine is effective on the prevention of the formation of postoperative adhesions in rats. Breviscapine decreased the levels of IL-18, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-α in blood serum and TGF-β1, connective tissue growth factor, PAI-1 in peritoneal fluid. But the levels of tPA and the ratio of tPA and PAI-1 in peritoneal fluid were increased. In addition, breviscapine significantly inhibited the expression of TGF-β1 and increased the level of Smad7 in the rat cecum tissue.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggested that intraperitoneal administration of breviscapine was effective in preventing intra-abdominal adhesion formation in rats. Breviscapine appears to have synergetic effects which could decrease fibrosis by inhibiting inflammation, upregulating peritoneal fibrinolytic activity and regulating the TGF and/or Smad signaling pathway. These data indicated a potential new therapeutic use of breviscapine on adhesion prevention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, College of Pharmacy, Xinxiang Medical University, Xingxiang, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, College of Pharmacy, Xinxiang Medical University, Xingxiang, China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Department of Cerebral Surgery of The Third People's Hospital of Anyang City, Anyang, China.
authors.forename: Zhiyong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Science, Sanquan Medical College, Xinxiang Medical University, Xingxiang, China.
authors.forename: Ting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Medicine, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, No. 138, Xianlin University City, Xianlin Avenue, Nanjing 210046, China. Electronic address: zeng720@126.com.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zeng
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen / Q000601:surgery*; D000818:Animals; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D015153:Blotting, Western; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D005419:Flavonoids / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007274:Injections, Intraperitoneal; D020382:Interleukin-18 / Q000378:metabolism; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012016:Reference Values; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D000267:Tissue Adhesions / Q000473:pathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D053773:Transforming Growth Factor beta1 / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D005419:Flavonoids; D020382:Interleukin-18; D015850:Interleukin-6; D053773:Transforming Growth Factor beta1; C061097:breviscapine
keywords: Abdominal adhesions; Breviscapine; Smad7; TGF-β(1)