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Gao J, Cao B, Zhao R, Li H, Xu Q, Wei B. Critical Signaling Transduction Pathways and Intestinal Barrier: Implications for Pathophysiology and Therapeutics. Pharmaceuticals (Basel) 2023; 16:1216. [PMID: 37765024 PMCID: PMC10537644 DOI: 10.3390/ph16091216] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2023] [Revised: 08/18/2023] [Accepted: 08/22/2023] [Indexed: 09/29/2023] Open
Abstract
The intestinal barrier is a sum of the functions and structures consisting of the intestinal mucosal epithelium, mucus, intestinal flora, secretory immunoglobulins, and digestive juices. It is the first-line defense mechanism that resists nonspecific infections with powerful functions that include physical, endocrine, and immune defenses. Health and physiological homeostasis are greatly dependent on the sturdiness of the intestinal barrier shield, whose dysfunction can contribute to the progression of numerous types of intestinal diseases. Disorders of internal homeostasis may also induce barrier impairment and form vicious cycles during the response to diseases. Therefore, the identification of the underlying mechanisms involved in intestinal barrier function and the development of effective drugs targeting its damage have become popular research topics. Evidence has shown that multiple signaling pathways and corresponding critical molecules are extensively involved in the regulation of the barrier pathophysiological state. Ectopic expression or activation of signaling pathways plays an essential role in the process of shield destruction. Although some drugs, such as molecular or signaling inhibitors, are currently used for the treatment of intestinal diseases, their efficacy cannot meet current medical requirements. In this review, we summarize the current achievements in research on the relationships between the intestinal barrier and signaling pathways. The limitations and future perspectives are also discussed to provide new horizons for targeted therapies for restoring intestinal barrier function that have translational potential.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jingwang Gao
- Department of General Surgery, Medical School of Chinese PLA, Beijing 100853, China; (J.G.); (R.Z.); (H.L.); (Q.X.)
- Department of General Surgery, First Medical Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China;
| | - Bo Cao
- Department of General Surgery, First Medical Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China;
| | - Ruiyang Zhao
- Department of General Surgery, Medical School of Chinese PLA, Beijing 100853, China; (J.G.); (R.Z.); (H.L.); (Q.X.)
- Department of General Surgery, First Medical Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China;
| | - Hanghang Li
- Department of General Surgery, Medical School of Chinese PLA, Beijing 100853, China; (J.G.); (R.Z.); (H.L.); (Q.X.)
- Department of General Surgery, First Medical Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China;
| | - Qixuan Xu
- Department of General Surgery, Medical School of Chinese PLA, Beijing 100853, China; (J.G.); (R.Z.); (H.L.); (Q.X.)
- Department of General Surgery, First Medical Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China;
| | - Bo Wei
- Department of General Surgery, Medical School of Chinese PLA, Beijing 100853, China; (J.G.); (R.Z.); (H.L.); (Q.X.)
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Mogilevski T. The bi-directional role of the gut-brain axis in inflammatory and other gastrointestinal diseases. Curr Opin Gastroenterol 2021; 37:572-577. [PMID: 34519701 DOI: 10.1097/mog.0000000000000779] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW There is a growing body of evidence implicating the role of the gut-brain axis in a multitude of inflammatory and non-inflammatory gastrointestinal disorders. The interaction between the gut and the brain is bidirectional and its therapeutic manipulation is gaining traction as the new frontier in the management of gastrointestinal disorders. This review summarizes the recent literature on this subject and serves as a reference for future research directions. RECENT FINDINGS Recent studies have shown that the gut-brain axis, through its main communicator - the vagal nerve - plays a multimodal role in manipulating gastrointestinal physiology. This is evident systemically via the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway, through its effect on intestinal barrier function and also locally on intestinal epithelial and immune cells. Vagal nerve stimulation and faecal microbiota transplantation are two ways by which therapeutic manipulation has been attempted with success. SUMMARY There has been exceptional progress in our understanding of the gut-brain axis in recent literature. Its role in the modulation of a multitude of gastrointestinal disorders is becoming clear. Preclinical findings are sufficient for this research to proceed to clinical trials in order to harness its clinical therapeutic potential for the care of patients.
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Gao L, Zhang JF, Williams JP, Yan YN, Xiao XL, Shi WR, Qian XY, An JX. Neuropathic Pain Creates Systemic Ultrastructural Changes in the Nervous System Corrected by Electroacupuncture but Not by Pregabalin. J Pain Res 2021; 14:2893-2905. [PMID: 34548816 PMCID: PMC8449649 DOI: 10.2147/jpr.s322964] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2021] [Accepted: 08/28/2021] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Purpose It is unclear whether neuropathological structural changes in the peripheral nervous system and central nervous system can occur in the spared nerve injury model. In this study, we investigated the pathological changes in the nervous system in a model of neuropathic pain as well as the effects of electroacupuncture (EA) and pregabalin (PGB) administration as regards pain relief and tissue repair. Patients and Methods Forty adult male SD rats were equally and randomly divided into 4 groups: spared nerve injury group (SNI, n = 10), SNI with electroacupuncture group (EA, n = 10), SNI with pregabalin group (PGB, n =10) and sham-operated group (Sham, n=10). EA and PGB were given from postoperative day (POD) 14 to 36. EA (2 Hz and 100 Hz alternating frequencies, intensities ranging from 1–1.5–2 mA) was applied to the left “zusanli” (ST36) and “Yanglingquan” (GB34) acupoints for 30 minutes. The mechanical withdrawal thresholds (MWTs) were tested with von Frey filaments. Moreover, the organizational and structural alterations of the bilateral prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, sciatic nerves and the thoracic, lumbar spinal cords and dorsal root ganglions (DRGs) were examined via light and electron microscopy. Results MWTs of left hind paw demonstrated a remarkable decrease in the SNI model (P < 0.05). In the SNI model, ultrastructural changes including demyelination and damaged neurons were observed at all levels of the peripheral nervous system (PNS) and central nervous system (CNS). In addition, EA improved MWTs and restored the normal structure of neurons. However, the effect was not found in the PGB treatment group. Conclusion Chronic pain can induce extensive damage to the central and peripheral nervous systems. Meanwhile, EA and PGB can both alleviate chronic pain syndromes in rats, but EA also restores the normal cellular structures, while PGB is associated with no improvement.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lei Gao
- Department of Anesthesiology, Pain and Sleep Medicine, Aviation General Hospital of China Medical University and Beijing Institute of Translational Medicine, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China.,School of Anesthesiology, Weifang Medical University, Weifang, Shangdong, People's Republic of China
| | - Jian-Feng Zhang
- Savaid Medical School, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China
| | - John P Williams
- Department of Anesthesiology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Yi-Ning Yan
- Department of Anesthesiology, Pain and Sleep Medicine, Aviation General Hospital of China Medical University and Beijing Institute of Translational Medicine, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China
| | - Xi-Lai Xiao
- Department of Anesthesiology, Pain and Sleep Medicine, Aviation General Hospital of China Medical University and Beijing Institute of Translational Medicine, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China
| | - Wan-Rui Shi
- Department of Anesthesiology, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing, People's Republic of China
| | - Xiao-Yan Qian
- Department of Anesthesiology, Pain and Sleep Medicine, Aviation General Hospital of China Medical University and Beijing Institute of Translational Medicine, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China
| | - Jian-Xiong An
- Department of Anesthesiology, Pain and Sleep Medicine, Aviation General Hospital of China Medical University and Beijing Institute of Translational Medicine, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China.,School of Anesthesiology, Weifang Medical University, Weifang, Shangdong, People's Republic of China.,Savaid Medical School, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China.,School of Medical Science & Engineering, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, People's Republic of China
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4
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Xu M, Fei Y, He Q, Fu J, Zhu J, Tao J, Ni C, Xu C, Zhou Q, Yao M, Ni H. Electroacupuncture Attenuates Cancer-Induced Bone Pain via NF-κB/CXCL12 Signaling in Midbrain Periaqueductal Gray. ACS Chem Neurosci 2021; 12:3323-3334. [PMID: 34460214 DOI: 10.1021/acschemneuro.1c00224] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Electroacupuncture (EA) is effective in various chronic pains. NF-κB and CXCL12 modulate the formation of chronic pain. Herein, we hypothesized that EA alleviates cancer-induced bone pain (CIBP) through NF-κB/CXCL12 axis in midbrain periaqueductal gray (PAG), which participates in "top-down" pain modulatory circuits. In order to filter the optimum EA frequency for CIBP treatment, 2, 100, or 2/100 Hz EA was set up. In addition, ipsilateral, contralateral, and bilateral EA groups were established to affirm the optimal EA scheme. Bilateral 2/100 Hz EA was considered as the optimal therapeutic scheme and was applied in a subsequent experiment. Western blotting along with immunofluorescence illustrated that CIBP induces a rapid and substantial increase in CXCL12 protein level and NF-κB phosphorylation in vlPAG from day 6 to day 12. Anti-CXCL12 neutralizing antibody and pAAV-U6-shRNA(CXCL12)-CMV-EGFP-WPRE in vlPAG remarkably improved the mechanical pain threshold of the hind paw in CIBP model relative to the control. EA inhibited the upregulation of pNF-κB and CXCL12 in vlPAG of CIBP. The recombinant CXCL12 and pAAV-CMV-CXCL12-EF1a-EGFP-3Xflag-WPRE reversed the abirritation of EA in the CIBP rat model. NF-κB phosphorylation mediated-CXCL12 expression contributed to CIBP allodynia, whereas EA suppressed NF-κB phosphorylation in CIBP. According to the above evidence, we conclude that bilateral 2/100 Hz EA is an optimal therapeutic scheme for CIBP. The abirritation mechanism of EA might reduce the expression of CXCL12 by inhibiting the activation of NF-κB, which might lead to the restraint of descending facilitation of CIBP.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miao Xu
- Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Research Center, The Affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University, 1882 Zhonghuan South Road, Jiaxing 314001, China
| | - Yong Fei
- Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Research Center, The Affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University, 1882 Zhonghuan South Road, Jiaxing 314001, China
| | - Qiuli He
- Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Research Center, The Affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University, 1882 Zhonghuan South Road, Jiaxing 314001, China
| | - Jie Fu
- Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Research Center, The Affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University, 1882 Zhonghuan South Road, Jiaxing 314001, China
| | - Jianjun Zhu
- Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Research Center, The Affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University, 1882 Zhonghuan South Road, Jiaxing 314001, China
| | - Jiachun Tao
- Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Research Center, The Affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University, 1882 Zhonghuan South Road, Jiaxing 314001, China
| | - Chaobo Ni
- Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Research Center, The Affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University, 1882 Zhonghuan South Road, Jiaxing 314001, China
| | - Chengfei Xu
- Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Research Center, The Affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University, 1882 Zhonghuan South Road, Jiaxing 314001, China
| | - Qinghe Zhou
- Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Research Center, The Affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University, 1882 Zhonghuan South Road, Jiaxing 314001, China
| | - Ming Yao
- Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Research Center, The Affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University, 1882 Zhonghuan South Road, Jiaxing 314001, China
| | - Huadong Ni
- Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Research Center, The Affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University, 1882 Zhonghuan South Road, Jiaxing 314001, China
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Zhang L, Wang X, Zhang H, Feng M, Ding J, Zhang B, Cheng Z, Qian L. Exercise-induced peptide EIP-22 protect myocardial from ischaemia/reperfusion injury via activating JAK2/STAT3 signalling pathway. J Cell Mol Med 2021; 25:3560-3572. [PMID: 33710777 PMCID: PMC8034444 DOI: 10.1111/jcmm.16441] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2020] [Revised: 02/20/2021] [Accepted: 02/26/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Recent studies have revealed that exercise has myocardial protective effects, but the exact mechanism remains unclear. Studies have increasingly found that peptides play a protective role in myocardial ischaemia‐reperfusion (I/R) injury. However, little is known about the role of exercise‐induced peptides in myocardial I/R injury. To elucidate the effect of exercise‐induced peptide EIP‐22 in myocardial I/R injury, we first determined the effect of EIP‐22 on hypoxia/reperfusion (H/R)‐ or H2O2‐induced injury via assessing cell viability and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) level. In addition, reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) was assessed by fluorescence microscope. Meanwhile, Western blot and TUNEL methods were used to detect apoptosis level. Then, we conducted mice I/R injury model and verified the effect of EIP‐22 by measuring cardiac function, evaluating heart pathology and detecting serum LDH, CK‐MB and cTnI level. Finally, the main signalling pathway was analysed by RNA‐seq. In vitro, EIP‐22 treatment significantly improved cells viabilities and MMP and attenuated the LDH, ROS and apoptosis level. In vivo, EIP‐22 distinctly improved cardiac function, ameliorated myocardial infarction area and fibrosis and decreased serum LDH, CK‐MB and cTnI level. Mechanistically, JAK/STAT signalling pathway was focussed by RNA‐seq and we confirmed that EIP‐22 up‐regulated the expression of p‐JAK2 and p‐STAT3. Moreover, AG490, a selective inhibitor of JAK2/STAT3, eliminated the protective roles of EIP‐22. The results uncovered that exercise‐induced peptide EIP‐22 protected cardiomyocytes from myocardial I/R injury via activating JAK2/STAT3 signalling pathway and might be a new candidate molecule for the treatment of myocardial I/R injury.
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Affiliation(s)
- Li Zhang
- Department of Cardiology, Tongren Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.,Department of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
| | - Xuejun Wang
- Department of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
| | - Hao Zhang
- Department of Internal Medicine, The Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, China
| | - Mengwen Feng
- Department of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
| | - Jingjing Ding
- Department of General Practice, Tongren Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Bing Zhang
- Hongqiao International Institute of Medicine, Tongren Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Zijie Cheng
- Department of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
| | - Lingmei Qian
- Department of Cardiology, Tongren Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.,Department of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
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