Protective effect of astragalus membranaceus and its bioactive compounds against the intestinal inflammation in Drosophila

Abstract

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is characterized by chronic and relapsing intestinal inflammation, which currently lacks safe and effective medicines. Astragalus membranaceus (AM), also named Huangqi, is one of the most commonly used fundamental herbs in China. Here, we aimed to investigate mechanism and bioactive compounds of AM on treating sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)- induced colitis in Drosophila flies. Our data showed that AM extract (AME) supplementation had no toxic effect in flies, and protected flies against SDS-induced lifespan shortening, intestinal morphological damage, and colon length shortening. Moreover, AME supplementation remarkably rescued SDS-induced intestinal stem cell (ISC) overproliferation and increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) level in the intestine. Mechanistically, AME remarkably rescued the altered expression levels of genes and proteins in c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and JAK-STAT signaling pathways induced by SDS in gut. Additionally, formononetin, isoliquiritigenin, isorhamnetin, astragaloside I, astragaloside III, vanillic acid, and caffeic acid in AM had protection against SDS-induced inflammatory damage in flies. Taken together, AME could ameliorate the intestinal inflammation partially by suppressing oxidative stress-associated JNK signaling and JAK-STAT signaling pathways. AME may provide a theoretical basis for natural medicine toward treating intestinal inflammatory disease in human.

Bacillus amyloliquefaciens SC06 Relieving Intestinal Inflammation by Modulating Intestinal Stem Cells Proliferation and Differentiation via AhR/STAT3 Pathway in LPS-Challenged Piglets

“…The preservation of ISCs’ stemness is required for repair of the intestinal damage because ISCs may produce a variety of intestinal epithelial cell types. − In the current study, we found that SC06 dramatically decreased ileum inflammation and enhanced the intestinal physical barrier, likely via the action of ISC proliferation. Our findings demonstrated that SC06 administration substantially elevated the mRNA levels of ISCs maker genes in the LPS challenge pigs.…”

Research state of the herbal medicine Huangqi (Radix Astragali): A global and bibliometric study

“…[32] Inflammation: Huangqi mediated multiple signaling pathways to exert anti-inflammatory effects, such as mediating the TLR-4/ NF-kb p65 pathway [33] and regulating the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, [34] down-regulating the expression of inflammatory factors IL-1, IL-6, and TNF-α, and inhibiting the JNK signaling pathway associated with oxidative stress, reducing the expression of transcriptional level of the puc gene. [35] These 3 pathological processes may be the main pharmacological mechanism of Huangqi, which was also the focus of the research area of Huangqi.…”

Carrageenan oligosaccharide alleviates intestinal damage via gut microflora through activating IMD/relish pathway in female Drosophila melanogaster

“…Developmental experiments were performed according to previous report 28 . Sixty fly eggs per tube were transferred to the vials containing basal medium or basal medium with COS. COS was added to basal medium to final concentrations (w/v) of 0.625, 1.25, and 2.5 mg/mL according to previous study, 26 defined as COS‐L, COS‐M, and COS‐H, respectively.…”

“…The safety of drugs can be evaluated by the developmental status of flies. 28 The lifespan, the pupation rate, the emergence rate, and the average weight of flies fed with or without COS were analyzed as shown in Figure 2. The results showed that 0.625, 1.25, and 2.5 mg/mL COS significantly extended the lifespan of female flies (Figure 2A) and had no significant effect on the lifespan of male flies (Figure 2B).…”

“…Developmental experiments were performed according to previous report. 28 Sixty fly eggs per tube were transferred to the vials containing basal medium or basal medium with COS. COS was added to basal medium to final concentrations (w/v) of 0.625, 1.25, and 2.5 mg/mL according to previous study, 26 defined as COS-L, COS-M, and COS-H, respectively. The doses of COS were chosen by the following rationale: the maximum dosage of carrageenans (CGNs) added in food will not exceed 1%, 29 CGNs can be digested and converted into COS by less than a quarter, 11,30 thus the maximum leakage of COS in food is 0.25%.…”