Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Jing Tong Yu Shu, a traditional Chinese medicine, suppresses IL-1^6; and IL-6 gene expressions in macrophages, and alleviates endometriosis

Tianchan Zhang¹, Huifang Cong¹, Shan Zhao², Qiao Zhang^3,4 , Xumeng Gu¹

¹Department of Gynaecology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, Heilongjiang 150006; ²Department of Gynaecology, Hebei General Hospital, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, 050051; ³School of Pharmacy, Harbin University of Commerce, Harbin, Heilongjiang 150076; ⁴Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine Post-doctoral Research Workstation, Harbin, Heilongjiang 150006, PR China.

For correspondence:- Qiao Zhang Email: tianchanzhang@yeah.net

Accepted: 30 November 2017 Published: 29 December 2017

Citation: Zhang T, Cong H, Zhao S, Zhang Q, Gu X. Jing Tong Yu Shu, a traditional Chinese medicine, suppresses IL-1^6; and IL-6 gene expressions in macrophages, and alleviates endometriosis. Trop J Pharm Res 2017; 16(12):2953-2928 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v16i12.20

© 2017 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of a traditional Chinese medicine, Jing Tong Yu Shu (JTYS) on endometriosis in a rat surgical model.

Methods: Endometriosis was induced in 40 female rats. The rats were randomly divided into 4 groups: three JTYS groups given different doses of the drug, and a saline group. After four weeks of treatment with JTYS, the volume of the endometriotic explants was measured, and the levels of IL-1β and IL-6 in peritoneal fluid and serum were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The production of cytokine IL-1β and IL-6 by peritoneal macrophages was also measured for each group.

Results: JTYS treatment brought about regression of implants and inhibition of IL-1β and IL-6 production in a dose-dependent manner, with high-dose JTYS eliciting 66.76 % reduction in mean endometriotic explant volume. Plasma and peritoneal fluid levels of IL-1β and IL-6 were significantly lower in the high-dose JTYS group than in the saline group (p < 0.05). However, JTYS treatment significantly inhibited IL-1β and IL-6 production in peritoneal macrophages (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: These results suggest that JTYS treatment leads to regression of endometriotic lesions in rat. Thus, JTYS has the potential to be developed into a new drug for the treatment of endometriosis

Keywords: Endometriosis, Interleukins, Traditional Chinese medicine, Jing Tong Yu Shu Macrophages