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Postcontrast acute kidney injury (PC-AKI) is directly caused by the use of contrast, indicating a clear causal relationship between the contrast and the injury. Salvianolic acid B (Sal B), a water-soluble compound of Salvia miltiorrhiza, has a potent anti-inflammatory effect. We conducted a study to explore whether the protective effect of Sal B on iopromide-induced injury in human proximal tubular epithelial cells (HK-2 cells) is related to inhibition of the TLR4/NF-κB/NLRP3 signal pathway. The results showed that 100 μmol/L Sal B counteracted the decrease in cell viability, the increase of ROS and the number of apoptotic cells, and the decrease of mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) induced by iopromide. Molecular docking analysis showed that Sal B binds TLR4 and NLRP3 proteins. Moreover, 100 μmol/L Sal B also decreased the expression of TLR4, NLRP3, ASC, Caspase-1, IL-18, IL-1β, TNF-α, p-NF-κB, cleaved caspase-3, and the ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 induced by iopromide. TAK-242, a TLR4 antagonist, was added to further explore the mechanism of Sal B. However, the cotreatment group with TAK-242 and Sal B had no significant difference in cell viability and apoptosis rate compared to the treatment group with TAK-242 or Sal B alone. These results indicated that Sal B can inhibit the TLR4/NF-κB/NLRP3 signal pathway, resulting in the alleviation of iopromide-induced HK-2 cell injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jianpi Huayu Decoction (JHD), a Chinese medicine formula, is a typical prescription against multiple tumors in the clinical treatment, which can raise quality of life and decrease complications. The aim of this study is to assess the efficacy of JHD against human colorectal carcinoma cells (SW480) and explore its mechanism. MTT assay showed that JHD decreased the cellular viability of SW480 cells in dose-dependent and time-dependent manner. Flow cytometry analysis revealed that JHD induced G0/G1-phase cell cycle arrest in SW480 cells and had a strong apoptosis-inducing effect on SW480 cells. Meanwhile it enhanced the expression of p27, cleaved PARP, cleaved caspase-3, and Bax and decreased the levels of PARP, caspase-3, Bcl-2, CDK2, CDK4, CDK6, cyclin D1, cyclin D2, cyclin D3, and cyclin E1, which was evidenced by RT-qPCR and Western blot analysis. In conclusion, these results indicated that JHD inhibited proliferation in SW480 cells by inducing G0/G1-phase cell cycle arrest and apoptosis, providing a practicaltherapeutic strategy against colorectal cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]