Huatanjiangqi Capsule Upregulating NRF2 and MRP1 Expression in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Rats

Metabolic profiling of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease model rats and the interventional effects of HuaTanJiangQi decoction using UHPLC-Q-TOF/MSE

The occurrence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) will lead to physiological and pathological variations and endogenous metabolic disorders. A traditional Chinese medicine formula, HuaTanJiangQi decoction (HTJQ), exhibits an unambiguous therapeutic effect on COPD in China. Nevertheless, the mechanism of its therapeutic effect on COPD is not clear. With this purpose, pulmonary function, histopathological and the inflammatory factors in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) in rats model of COPD were investigated. Then, ultra high-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-TOF/MS) analysis and multivariate statistical analysis were used to further reveal the mechanism of HTJQ therapeutic effect on COPD via metabolomics study. The results showed that the characteristics of lung tissues were significantly reversed, the concentration of LTB4 and LTC4 were gradually decreased, and the lung function began to recover after HTJQ treatment. These typical indicators of COPD in HTJQ intervention group were reversed similar to the control group, suggested that HTJQ has a therapeutic effect on COPD. Moreover, 32 dysregulated metabolites, including Thromboxane a2, Sphingosine 1-phosphate, PC(18:2(9Z,12Z)/18:1(11Z)), Leukotriene B4, Glutathione, Arachidonic acid, Sphingosylphosphocholine acid, N-Acetyl-leukotriene e4, Lysopc(18:1(11Z)), L-Cysteine, and Guanosine diphosphate. All the altered metabolites were associated with the onset and development of COPD, and involved in glycerophospholipid metabolism, sphingolipid metabolism, glutathione metabolism, and arachidonic acid metabolism, which were significantly changed in rats model with COPD. Generally, these findings provide a systematic view of metabolic changes linked to the onset and development of COPD, also indicated that HTJQ could provide satisfactory therapeutic effects on COPD and metabolomics study can be utilized to further understand the molecular mechanisms.

Allyl isothiocyanate may reverse the expression of MRP1 in COPD rats via the Notch1 signaling pathway

In the present study, the roles of AITC in up-regulating the MRP1 expression and its relationship with the activation of the Notch1 signaling pathway were investigated by combining the in vivo and in vitro experiments. AITC was administered to the COPD model rats and normal rats to explore the association between Notch1 and MRP1. The human bronchial epithelial cells were treated with DAPT, the Notch1 signaling pathway inhibitor, to verify the effect of Notch1 on the expression of AITC-induced MRP1. Compared with the control group, the expressions of Notch1, Hes1 (the target gene of Notch1) and MRP1 in the lung tissue of the COPD model group were significantly inhibited. In contrast to the COPD model group, the expressions of MRP1, Hes1 and Notch1 dramatically up-regulated following the treatment with Low/High doses of AITC. The expression of MRP1 in the 16 HBE cells was down-regulated by the inhibition of Notch in a DAPT concentration-dependent manner. Additionally, the AITC-induced up-regulation of the MRP1 expression was markedly impaired following the inhibition of Notch1. The above results indicated that the pulmonary function and the expression of MRP1 in COPD rats could be improved by AITC, which was partly dependent on the Notch1 signaling pathway. Therefore, targeting the Notch signaling pathway may present as an effective therapeutic strategy for COPD treatment.