Protective effect and mechanisms of action of Mongolian medicine Sulongga-4 on pyloric ligation-induced gastroduodenal ulcer in rats

Figure 1 Histopathological assessment of the effects of Sulongga-4 on pyloric ligation-induced gastric and duodenal ulcers in rats. The gastroduodenal tissues were fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde, embedded in paraffin, and sectioned. The tissue sections were dewaxed, rehydrated, and stained with hematoxylin and eosin before observation by light microscopy (10 × 10). PL: Pyloric ligation; Sham: Sham surgery; SL-4: Sulongga-4 decoction.

Figure 2 Expression of interleukin-6, endotoxin, and platelet-activating factor in duodenal tissue obtained from rats in different groups, and determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Data are reported as means ± standard error (n = 10-12). A: Interleukin-6; B: Endotoxin; C: Platelet-activating factor. ^aP < 0.05 vs the sham group; ^bP < 0.05 vs the pyloric ligation (PL) group. Sham: Sham surgery; SL-4: Sulongga-4 decoction.

Figure 3 Expression of tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-1β, prostaglandin E2 and epidermal growth factor in the gastric tissue from rats in different groups, and determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Data are means ± standard error (n = 10-12). A: Tumor necrosis factor-α; B: Interleukin-1β; C: Prostaglandin E2; D: Epidermal growth factor. ^aP < 0.05 vs the sham group; ^bP < 0.05 and ^cP < 0.01 vs the pyloric ligation (PL) group, respectively. Sham: Sham surgery; SL-4: Sulongga-4 decoction.

Figure 4 Volcano plots of microarray data on differentially expressed mRNA in gastric and duodenal tissue. A and B: There were 1415 and 1460 differentially expressed genes in the sham operation vs pyloric ligation (PL) (A) and PL vs SL-4 groups (B), respectively in gastric tissue; C and D: There were 2610 and 209 differentially expressed genes in the sham operation vs PL (C) and PL vs SL-4 groups (D), respectively in duodenal tissue. Vertical lines correspond to 2-fold up- and downregulation. The horizontal line represents a P value of 0.05. Significantly up- and downregulated genes are shown in red and green, respectively. Statistical significance was defined as a fold-change of 2.0 and P value of 0.05 between groups. Sham: Sham operation, SL-4: Sulongga-4 decoction.

Figure 5 Relative expression of CYP2b2 and UGT2b1 mRNA in gastric tissue and A2m and MASP1 mRNA in duodenal tissue by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction assay. A: CYP2b2; B: UGT2b1; C: A2m; D: MASP1. GAPDH was used as the reference gene. Values are means ± standard error (n = 6). ^aP < 0.05 vs sham operation; ^bP < 0.05 vs pyloric ligation (PL). Sham: Sham operation; SL-4: Sulongga-4 decoction.