anti-atherosclerotic function of astragali radix extract downregulation of adhesion molecules in vitro and in vivoanti-atherosclerotic踝骨功能的差别基数提取对这些粘附分子在体外和体内.pdfVIP

You et al. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2012, 12:54 /1472-6882/12/54 RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access Anti-atherosclerotic function of Astragali Radix extract: downregulation of adhesion molecules in vitro and in vivo 1,2 1 1 1 3 3 1 Yang You , Yan Duan , Shao-wei Liu , Xiao-lin Zhang , Xiu-li Zhang , Jia-tao Feng , Cheng-hui Yan and Ya-ling Han1,4* Abstract Background: Atherosclerosis is considered to be a chronic inflammatory disease. Astragali Radix extract (ARE) is one of the major active ingredients extracted from the root of Astragalus membranaceus Bge. Although ARE has an anti-inflammatory function, its anti-atherosclerotic effects and mechanisms have not yet been elucidated. Methods: Murine endothelial SVEC4-10 cells were pretreated with different doses of ARE at different times prior to induction with tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α. Cell adhesion assays were performed using THP-1 cells and assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, western blotting and immunofluorescence analyses to detect the expression of vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1), intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), phosphorylated inhibitor of κB (p-iκB) and nuclear factor (NF)-κB. We also examined the effect of ARE on atherosclerosis in the aortic endothelium of apolipoprotein E-deficient (apoE−/−) mice. Results: TNF-α strongly increased the expression of VCAM-1 and ICAM-1 accompanied by increased expression of p-iκB and NF-κB proteins. However, the expression levels of VCAM-1 and ICAM-1 were reduced by ARE in dose- and time-dependent manners, with the strongest effect at a dose of 120 μg/ml incubated for 4 h. This was accompanied by significantly decreased expression of p-iκB