Hepatoprotective Effect of San-Cao Granule on Con A-Induced Liver Injury in Mice and Mechanisms of Action Exploration

Abstract

Objective: San-Cao granule (SCG), a traditional Chinese herb formula, has been used for treating autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) in our clinics for a long time. However, its active ingredients and mechanisms of action were still unknown due to its complicated chemical compositions. In the present study, the pharmacological study of SCG on acute liver injury induced by Concanavalin A (Con A) was performed to provide a scientific evidence for SCG against liver injury.Methods: In order to screen active components and predicate mechanisms of action, an “ingredients-target-disease” interaction network was constructed by network pharmacology. Then, the pharmacological study was performed to evaluate the therapeutic effect and the underlying mechanisms of SCG on Con A-induced liver injury in mice.Results: This research demonstrated the pharmacological effect of SCG on Con A-induced liver injury, which was through improving the liver function, relieving the pathological changes of liver tissue, decreasing the level of pro-inflammatory cytokines, and thus balancing the pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines. And the anti-inflammatory of SCG may advantage over the ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA). Network pharmacology analysis revealed that the pharmacological effect of SCG might be related to its active ingredients of taraxanthin, dihydrotanshinone I, isotanshinone I, γ-sitosterol, 3β-acetyl-20,25-epoxydammarane-24α, and δ-7-stigmastenol. The hepatoprotective effect of SCG was reflected by suppressing Con A-induced apoptosis which was mediated by TRAIL and FASL.Conclusion: The combination of network pharmacology and experimental data has revealed the anti-apoptotic effect of SCG against Con A-induced liver injury.

Astragali Radix Contributes to the Inhibition of Liver Fibrosis via High-Mobility Group Box 1-Mediated Inflammatory Signaling Pathway

“…Then, hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining and Masson staining were used to observe the pathological changes of liver tissue [ 21 , 23 ]. The results of HE showed that the liver tissue structure of the control group was normal without morphological changes.…”

“…To evaluate the effects of AR on the expression of α -SMA, HMGB1, and collagen I in liver tissue of fibrosis rats, immunohistochemical analysis was performed as described previously [ 21 ]. Paraffin sections of liver tissues were put in xylene and gradient ethanol for deparaffinization and dehydration, and then the sections were put into citric acid antigen retrieval solution for antigen retrieval.…”

β‐Sitosterol Protects against Myocardial Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury via Targeting PPARγ/NF‐κB Signalling

“…Myocardial I/R injury is a complicated pathologic process, and the molecular mechanisms underlying this process remain unclear [11]. β-Sitosterol has been shown to be protective against I/R injury in different disease conditions * * * Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine [7,9,10,[12][13][14][15][16]. In the present study, we showed that OGD/ R treatment suppressed cell viability and induced cell apoptosis and ROS production but reduced MMP, and β-sitosterol treatment attenuated H/R-induced cardiomyocyte injury, which was consistent with previous findings showing that β-sitosterol exerted protective actions against oxidant injury in H9c2 cells and rat hearts [7].…”

Dihydrotanshinone I Attenuates Plaque Vulnerability in Apolipoprotein E-Deficient Mice: Role of Receptor-Interacting Protein 3

“…In the past decades, most of study focused on its cytotoxicity toward tumor cells (7,20). Nowadays, increasing evidence has demonstrated that DHT shows beneficial potentials such as antiinflammation (16,42,43), anti-ischemia/reperfusion (20), antiallergic (21), and hepatoprotective effects (41), while its therapeutic effects on ameliorating vulnerable plaque are poorly studied. Considering this, we investigated the effect of DHT on treating vulnerable plaques and the underlying mechanisms.…”