Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Mar 21, 2020; 26(11): 1156-1171
Published online Mar 21, 2020. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v26.i11.1156
Protective effects of panax notoginseng saponin on dextran sulfate sodium-induced colitis in rats through phosphoinositide-3-kinase protein kinase B signaling pathway inhibition
Qing-Ge Lu, Li Zeng, Xiao-Hai Li, Yu Liu, Xue-Feng Du, Guo-Min Bai, Xin Yan
Qing-Ge Lu, Li Zeng, Xiao-Hai Li, Yu Liu, Xue-Feng Du, Guo-Min Bai, Department of Anorectal, Tangshan Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, Tangshan 063000, Hebei Province, China
Xin Yan, College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, North China University of Science and Technology, Tangshan 063210, Hebei Province, China
Author contributions: Lu QG and Zeng L designed the research; Li XH and Liu Y performed the research; Du XF and Bai GM analyzed the data; Yan X wrote the paper.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81704059; Scientific Research Project of Hebei Province Traditional Chinese Medicine Administration, No. 2017130.
Institutional review board statement: This study was reviewed and approved by the North China University of Science and Technology Ethics Committee (Approval No. NCST2018196).
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: This study was reviewed and approved by the Animal Care Welfare Committee of North China University of Science and Technology (No. 20180809).
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
ARRIVE guidelines statement: The authors have read the ARRIVE guidelines, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the ARRIVE guidelines.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Xin Yan, PhD, Professor, College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, North China University of Science and Technology, No. 21 Bohai Avenue, Caofeidian New Town, Tangshan 063210, Hebei Province, China. y18301212703@163.com
Received: November 12, 2019
Peer-review started: November 12, 2019
First decision: December 23, 2019
Revised: December 27, 2019
Accepted: February 21, 2020
Article in press: February 21, 2020
Published online: March 21, 2020
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Intestinal inflammation is a common digestive tract disease, which is usually treated with hormone medicines. Hormone medicines are effective to some extent, but long-term use of them may bring about many complications.

AIM

To explore the protective effects of panax notoginseng saponin (PNS) against dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced intestinal inflammatory injury through phosphoinositide-3-kinase protein kinase B (PI3K/AKT) signaling pathway inhibition in rats.

METHODS

Colitis rat models were generated via DSS induction, and rats were divided into control (no modeling), DSS, DSS + PNS 50 mg/k, and DSS + PNS 100 mg/kg groups. Then, the intestinal injury, oxidative stress parameters, inflammatory indices, tight junction proteins, apoptosis, macrophage polarization, and TLR4/AKT signaling pathway in colon tissues from rats in each of the groups were detected. The PI3K/AKT signaling pathway in the colon tissue of rats was blocked using the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway inhibitor, LY294002.

RESULTS

Compared with rats in the control group, rats in the DSS group showed significantly shortened colon lengths, and significantly increased disease activity indices, oxidative stress reactions and inflammatory indices, as well as significantly decreased expression of tight junction-associated proteins. In addition, the DSS group showed significantly increased apoptotic cell numbers, and showed significantly increased M1 macrophages in spleen and colon tissues. They also showed significantly decreased M2 macrophages in colon tissues, as well as activation of the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway (all P < 0.05). Compared with rats in the DSS group, rats in the DSS + PNS group showed significantly lengthened colon lengths, decreased disease activity indices, and significantly alleviated oxidative stress reactions and inflammatory responses. In addition, this group showed significantly increased expression of tight junction-associated proteins, significantly decreased apoptotic cell numbers, and significantly decreased M1 macrophages in spleen and colon tissues. This group further showed significantly increased M2 macrophages in colon tissues, and significantly suppressed activation of the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway, as well as a dose dependency (all P < 0.05). When the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway was inhibited, the apoptosis rate of colon tissue cells in the DSS + LY294002 group was significantly lower than that of the DSS group (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

PNS can protect rats against DSS-induced intestinal inflammatory injury by inhibiting the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway, and therefore may be potentially used in the future as a drug for colitis.

Keywords: Panax notoginseng saponin, Phosphoinositide-3-kinase protein kinase B signaling pathway, Dextran sulfate sodium, Colitis, Rat intestine, Protective effect

Core tip: Panax notoginseng saponin is a drug widely used for cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, with good proven inhibitory effects on inflammation. Our study also found that panax notoginseng saponin exerted good inhibitory effects on inflammation in dextran sulfate sodium-induced colitis.