1. Yiguanjian decoction and its ingredients inhibit angiogenesis in carbon tetrachloride-induced cirrhosis mice
- Author
-
Ya-Ning Zhou, Wen-Wei Fu, Hua Zhang, Yongping Mu, Cheng-Hai Liu, Guang-Li Du, Mingyu Sun, Jiamei Chen, Lie-Ming Xu, Yi-Yang Hu, Ning Bingbing, and Ping Liu
- Subjects
Liver Cirrhosis ,Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A ,Pathology ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Cirrhosis ,Angiogenesis ,Angiogenesis Inhibitors ,Pharmacology ,Liver Cirrhosis, Experimental ,Neovascularization ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,Hydroxyproline ,Mice ,Random Allocation ,VEGF Signaling Pathway ,medicine ,Animals ,Medicine, Chinese Traditional ,Rats, Wistar ,Carbon Tetrachloride ,Neovascularization, Pathologic ,business.industry ,Kinase insert domain receptor ,General Medicine ,medicine.disease ,Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit ,Yiguanjian ,Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-2 ,Actins ,Vascular endothelial growth factor ,Mice, Inbred C57BL ,Vascular endothelial growth factor A ,chemistry ,Complementary and alternative medicine ,Collagen ,medicine.symptom ,business ,Research Article ,Drugs, Chinese Herbal - Abstract
Background Cirrhosis is associated with angiogenesis and disruption of hepatic vascular architecture. Yiguanjian (YGJ) decoction, a prescription from traditional Chinese medicine, is widely used for treating liver diseases. We studied whether YGJ or its ingredients (iYGJ) had an anti-angiogenic effect and explored possible mechanisms underlying this process. Methods Cirrhosis was induced with carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) (ip) in C57BL/6 mice for 6 weeks. From week 4 to week 6, cirrhotic mice were randomly divided into four groups: sorafenib-treated, YGJ-treated and iYGJ-treated mice and placebo. Serum biochemistries, hydroxyproline (Hyp) content and histopathological changes of hepatic tissues were measured as were α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), collagen I, CD31, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), VEGF receptor (VEGFR) 2 and hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α. Results Both YGJ and iYGJ improved serum biochemistries. Changes of histopathology showed that YGJ and iYGJ reduced hepatic tissue necroinflammatory and collagen fiber deposition in cirrhosis mice. Compared to the CCl4 treated animals, Hyp, α-SMA, collagen I, CD31, VEGF, VEGFR, and HIF-1α expression decreased in YGJ and iYGJ groups. Conclusions YGJ and iYGJ inhibited liver angiogenesis in cirrhotic mice treated with CCl4 by inhibiting the HIF-1α/VEGF signaling pathway, suggesting that anti-angiogenic effects of YGJ and iYGJ are associated with improving the hepatic hypoxic microenvironment.
- Published
- 2015