Effect of Luteolin on 11Beta-Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenase in Rat Liver and Kidney

The ethanolic extract of peanut shell attenuates the depressive-like behaviors of mice through modulation of inflammation and gut microbiota

Peanut shell is an agricultural byproduct being wasted on a large scale, which is in urgent need to be recycled. To fully utilize its pharmacological ingredients, e.g. luteolin, eriodyctiol, and 5,7-dihydroxychromone, we evaluated the curative effect of ethanol extract deriving from peanut shell (PSE) in treating chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS)-induced depressive mice. The chronic stress lasted for 10 weeks, and PSE at 100-900 mg/kg/day was gavaged to mice in the last 2 weeks of modeling. The depressive behaviors were assessed by analyses of sucrose preference, tail suspension, and forced swimming. The brain injury was demonstrated by Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E), Nissl body, and TdT-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) stainings in the mouse hippocampus. Biochemical indicators were analyzed, including levels of neurotrophic factors, neurotransmitters, stress hormones, and inflammatory mediators. The feces were collected for the 16S rDNA sequencing of gut microbiome. Administration of PSE improved the sucrose water consumption of depressive mice, while it decreased the immobile time in tail suspension and forced swimming tests. Meanwhile, the anti-depressive effect of PSE was supported by ameliorated histochemical staining, increased levels of neurotrophic factors and neurotransmitters, as well as down-regulated stress hormones. Furthermore, the treatment of PSE was able to mitigate the levels of inflammatory cytokines in brain, serum, and small intestine. Besides, the tight junction proteins, e.g., occludin and ZO-1, of gut showed elevated expressions, which coincided with the elevated abundance and diversity of gut microbiota upon PSE treatment. This study validated the therapeutic efficacy of PSE in fighting against depression, as well as its modulatory action on inflammation and gut microbiota, which promoted the recycling of this agricultural waste to be health supplements of added value.

β-Cyfluthrin-Mediated Cytotoxicity of Cultured Rat Primary Hepatocytes Ameliorated by Cotreatment with Luteolin

The current study was designed to evaluate the possible protective effects of luteolin against β-cyfluthrin-mediated toxicity on the primary culture of rat hepatocytes (RHs). In the first step, the exposure of RHs to β-cyfluthrin (10, 20, 40, and 80 μM) was assessed by MTT. Second, redox condition was evaluated in cotreatment of cells with luteolin (20, 40, and 60 μM) and β-cyfluthrin (40 μM) at both medium and intra levels. In comparison to control, viability was lower in 40 and 80 μM β-cyfluthrin-treated groups at 24 h and all β-cyfluthrin-treated groups at 48 h (P < 0.05). Cotreatment with 20 or 40 μM luteolin + 40 μM β-cyfluthrin resulted in a higher viability value compared to β-cyfluthrin alone at 24 and 48 h of incubation (P < 0.05). Administration of 20 or 40 μM luteolin with β-cyfluthrin led to the decrease of malondialdehyde and total nitrate/nitrite and the increase of total antioxidant capacity (TAC) values in both medium and intrahepatocyte levels compared to the β-cyfluthrin-treated group at 48 h (P < 0.05). It seems that low and medium doses of luteolin possess the potential to reduce β-cyfluthrin-mediated hepatotoxicity via attenuation of peroxidative/nitrosative reactions and augmentation of TAC levels.

Potential Molecular Mechanisms of Ephedra Herb in the Treatment of Nephrotic Syndrome Based on Network Pharmacology and Molecular Docking

Objective

To explore the possible mechanisms of Ephedra herb (EH) in the treatment of nephrotic syndrome (NS) by using network pharmacology and molecular docking in this study.

Methods

Active ingredients and related targets of EH were obtained from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology (TCMSP) database, and the gene names corresponding to the proteins were found through the UniProt database. Then, target genes related to NS were screened out from GeneCards, PharmGKB, and OMIM databases. Next, the intersection targets were obtained successfully through Venn diagram, which were also seen as key target genes of EH and NS. Cytoscape 3.9.0 software was used to construct the effective “active ingredient-target” network diagram, and “drug-ingredient-target-disease (D-I-T-D)” network diagram. After that, the STRING database was used to construct a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network. Furthermore, Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment involved in the targets were performed by the DAVID database and ClueGO plugin in Cytoscape. Finally, AutoDockTools software was used for molecular docking to verify the binding strength between main active ingredients and key target proteins.

Results

A total of 22 main active ingredients such as quercetin, kaempferol, luteolin, and naringenin were obtained, which could act on 105 targets related to NS. Through PPI network, 53 core targets such as AKT1, TNF, IL6, VEGFA, and IL1B were found, which might play a crucial role in the treatment of NS. Meanwhile, these targets were significantly involved in PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, TNF signaling pathway, AGE-RAGE signaling pathway, hepatitis B, and pathways in cancer through GO and KEGG enrichment analysis. The docking results indicated that active ingredients such as kaempferol, luteolin, quercetin, and naringenin all had good binding to the target protein AKT1 or TNF. Among them, luteolin and naringenin binding with AKT1 showed the best binding energy (-6.2 kcal/mol).

Conclusion

This study indicated that the potential mechanism of EH in treating NS may be related to PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, TNF signaling pathway, and AGE-RAGE signaling pathway, which provided better approaches for exploring the mechanism in treating NS and new ideas for further in vivo and in vitro experimental verifications.