Oxymatrine Ameliorates l-Arginine-Induced Acute Pancreatitis in Rats

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine whether oxymatrine has a protective effect against acute pancreatitis (AP) in a rat model of L-arginine-induced AP. AP was induced by two intraperitoneal injections of L-arginine (250 mg/100 g) at a 1-h interval. Oxymatrine (50 mg/kg) was administered every 6 h after the induction of AP. Oxymatrine significantly reduced the plasma amylase, D-lactic acid and tumor necrosis factor alpha concentration, serum diamine oxidase and lipase activity, and pancreatic myeloperoxidase activity, which were increased in AP rats (P < 0.05). In addition, the pancreatic CD45 expression and the expression of claudin-1, but not zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1) and occludin, in the intestinal tissues were significantly reduced after the induction of AP. However, oxymatrine increased the expression of claudin-1 and CD45, but did not alter the expression of ZO-1 and occludin. In conclusion, our results demonstrated that oxymatrine is potentially capably of protecting against L-arginine-induced AP and attenuating AP-associated intestinal barrier injury by up-regulation of claudin-1.

Oxymatrine attenuates bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis in mice via the inhibition of inducible nitric oxide synthase expression and the TGF-β/Smad signaling pathway

“…Our results are in agreement with previous studies showing anti-inflammatory effects of OM in other diseases. For example, Zhang et al (11) have demonstrated that OM effectively reduces the serum TNF-α level in rats with L-arginine-induced acute pancreatitis. It has also been shown that OM is able to reduce neuronal cell apoptosis by inhibiting Toll-like receptor 4/nuclear factor κ-B-dependent inflammatory responses in traumatic rat brain injury (14).…”

“…(Kushen) that has been approved by the State Food and Drug Administration of China for treating hepatitis B (7,8). Cumulative evidence has suggested that OM possesses multiple biological and pharmacological properties, such as anti-inflammatory (9)(10)(11), antitumor (12,13), anti-apoptotic (14), antifibrotic (15), antioxidant (16), and antiarrhythmic activities (17). Chen et al (18) demonstrated that…”

Potential Signaling Pathways Involved in the Clinical Application of Oxymatrine

“…Recently, extensive experimental studies on OM have been performed to extend its applications to the treatment of cancer (Zhang et al , ; Guo et al , ), lung ischemia reperfusion injury (LIRI) (Zhu et al , ), heart diseases (Hong‐Li et al , ; Cao et al , ; Li et al , ; Wang et al , ), pancreatic diseases (Zhang et al , ), and skin diseases (Fan et al, ), as well as applications in neuroprotection (Xu et al , ) and analgesia (Liu et al , ). Specifically, OM exhibits a variety of effects that can prevent tumor development in human gastric cancer (Guo et al , ), human breast cancer (Zhang et al , ), human liver cancer (Song et al , ), laryngeal carcinoma (Ying et al , ), gallbladder cancer (Wu et al , ), and human pancreatic cancer (Chen et al , ).…”

The protective role of melatonin on L-arginine-induced acute pancreatitis in adult male albino rats

“…The experimental and clinical patho-physiology of AP is poorly understood [13]. Therefore, AP is associated with high morbidity and mortality rates ranging from 15% to 40% in its severe form [45]. L-arginine (L-arg) is an amino acid necessary for the body to make proteins.…”