Antihepatocarcinoma Effect of Portulaca oleracea L. in Mice by PI3K/Akt/mTOR and Nrf2/HO‐1/NF‐κB Pathway

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the pharmacological effects of Portulaca oleracea L. (Purslane) (PL) on N-nitrosodiethylamine- (NDEA-) induced hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) and explore its potential mechanism. Mice were randomly assigned to four groups: control group, NDEA group, NDEA + Purslane (100 mg/kg) group, and NDEA + Purslane (200 mg/kg) group. The animal of each group was given NDEA (100 ppm) in drinking water. 1 h later, Purslane dissolved in PBS was intragastrically administered for continuous seven days. The results showed that Purslane reduced the activities of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) in liver and serum. Purslane also reduced the contents of interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-1β, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and methane dicarboxylic aldehyde (MDA) and restored the activity of superoxygen dehydrogenises (SOD) in serum. Purslane could obviously attenuate the hepatic pathological alteration. Furthermore, treatment with Purslane effectively inhibited the phosphorylations of phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase (PI3K), protein kinase B (Akt), mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB), and inhibitor of NF-κBα (IκBα) and upregulated the expressions of NF-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) and heme oxygenase- (HO-) 1. In conclusion, our research suggested that Purslane exhibited protective effects on NDEA-induced hepatocellular carcinomas by anti-inflammatory and antioxidative properties via the PI3K/Akt/mTOR and Nrf2/HO-1/NF-κB pathway.

Effects of icariin and quercetin on high glucose-induced neuronal cell apoptosis

“…These results show that icariin and quercetin may be effective in reversing high glucoseinduced Akt protein phosphorylation, and are in agreement with results of previous studies [9,10]. Inhibition of Akt pathway may have significantly reduced the protective effect of these compounds on neuronal cell apoptosis, an indication that they exerted their effects via the Akt pathway.…”

“…The serine/threonine-specific protein kinase (Akt) exists at the intersection of many signal pathways, and is involved in cell viability, while inhibiting cell apoptosis [9]. Studies have reported the involvement of bcl-2 and bax in apoptosis [10].…”

Evaluation of Pigments, Phenolic and Volatile Compounds, and Antioxidant Activity of a Spontaneous Population of Portulaca oleracea L. Grown in Tunisia

“…A wide range of pharmacological effects were shown for P. oleracea extracts, including antibacterial [10], hypolipidemic, anti-aging, anti-inflammatory [11,12], skeletal muscle relaxant [11,13], analgesic, wound healing [14], hypoglycemic [15], neuropharmacological [16], bronchodilatory [14,17], hypocholesterolemic [18], and antioxidant activities [15,19,20]. Other studies showed the importance of purslane consumption in the reduction of the occurrence of many diseases such as cancer [21,22] and heart disease [23]. P. oleracea is also consumed as a vegetable, especially in the Mediterranean Basin, where stems and leaves are similar to spinach in its salty and slightly acidic taste.…”

Cytotoxicity and apoptogenic properties of the standardized extract of Portulaca oleracea on glioblastoma multiforme cancer cell line (U-87): a mechanistic study

“…It has been demonstrated that PO made a decrement in T lymphocytes proliferation, an increment in Th1/Th2 ratio toward to Th1 and anti-cancer effects (Askari et al, 2016[ 10 ]). Moreover, Guoyin et al (2017[ 27 ]) showed that PO decreased interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-1β, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA) induced hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC). Furthermore, PO markedly reduced MDA and raised SOD in serum.…”

“…PO markedly diminished NF-κB and inhibitor of NF-κBα (IκBα) expression and enhanced Nrf2 expression. It is concluded that PO possesses anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties in hepatocellular carcinomas (Guoyin et al, 2017[ 27 ]). It has been demonstrated that PO polysaccharides have a strong scavenging activity against superoxide anion, nitric oxide, hydroxyl and 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radicals.…”