%0 Journal Article
%T Anti-atherosclerotic function of Astragali Radix extract: downregulation of adhesion molecules in vitro and in vivo
%A Yang You
%A Yan Duan
%A Shao-wei Liu
%A Xiao-lin Zhang
%A Xiu-li Zhang
%A Jia-tao Feng
%A Cheng-hui Yan
%A Ya-ling Han
%J BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine
%D 2012
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1472-6882-12-54
%X Murine endothelial SVEC4-10 cells were pretreated with different doses of ARE at different times prior to induction with tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-汐. 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 百B (p-i百B) and nuclear factor (NF)-百B. We also examined the effect of ARE on atherosclerosis in the aortic endothelium of apolipoprotein E-deficient (apoEˋ/ˋ) mice.TNF-汐 strongly increased the expression of VCAM-1 and ICAM-1 accompanied by increased expression of p-i百B and NF-百B 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 120ˋ米g/ml incubated for 4ˋh. This was accompanied by significantly decreased expression of p-i百B and inhibited activation of NF-百B. Immunofluorescence analysis also revealed that oral administration of ARE resulted in downregulation of adhesion molecules and decreased expression of macrophages in the aortic endothelium of apoEˋ/ˋ mice. ARE could suppress the inflammatory reaction and inhibit the progression of atherosclerotic lesions in apoEˋ/ˋ mice.This study demonstrated that ARE might be an effective anti-inflammatory agent for the treatment of atherosclerosis, possibly acting via the decreased expression of adhesion molecules.
%K Astragali Radix extract
%K Vascular cell adhesion molecule-1
%K Vntercellular adhesion molecule-1
%K Apolipoprotein E-deficient mice
%K Atherosclerosis
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6882/12/54/abstract