Published online Nov 21, 2005. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v11.i43.6780
Revised: February 15, 2005
Accepted: February 18, 2005
Published online: November 21, 2005
AIM: To investigate the effects of four different ingredients of zedoary (Curcuma aromatica oil, Curcumol, β-elemence, and Curcumin) on the gene expressions of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), and to explore the molecular mechanism of zedoary against hepatic fibrosis at gene network level.
METHODS: We detected the mRNA sequences of 50 liver fibrosis-related genes in GenBank and designed oligonucleotide probes. We synthesized oligonucleotides with PE8909 DNA synthesizing instrument, and carried out oligonucleotide microarray with OGR-04 dropping instrument and aldehyded glass chip. Cultured HSC-T6 cells were treated with different concentrations of Colchicine, Curcuma aromatica oil, Curcumol, β-elemence, and Curcumin. According to the experiment of cell toxicity, we took the appropriate concentrations of medicines that resulted in over 50% of cell survival as experiment concentrations. We collected the cells at 1, 6, 12, and 24 h, and extracted total RNA with TRIzol reagent, then labeled cDNAs with Cy3-dUTP and Cy5-dUTP. These labeled cDNAs were hybridized to an oligonucleotide microarray which was washed several times and scanned by scanner GenePix 4000B. Different gene expressions of HSC-T6 cells were analyzed by ImaGene 4.2 software.
RESULTS: After HSC-T6 cells were cultured in a medium containing 6.25 μg/mL Colchicine for 12 h, expression of TIMP-1 decreased 2.2-folds. After HSC-T6 cells were cultured in a medium containing 78.125 μg/mL of Curcuma aromatica oil for 24 h, the expression of TIMP-2 and IL-6 decreased 2.3- and 2.2-folds, respectively. Moreover, after HSC-T6 cells were cultured in a medium containing 1.5625 μg/mL of Curcumol for 12 h, the expression of TGFβ1 and P450a decreased 2.3- and 2.1-folds, respectively.
CONCLUSION: Our results may show the possible molecular mechanism of Curcuma aromatica oil and Curcumol against hepatic fibrosis.