1. Huangqin Qingre Chubi Capsule improves rheumatoid arthritis accompanied depression through the Wnt1/β-catenin signaling pathway.
- Author
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Li C, Xue Q, Li H, Peng Y, Wu Y, Yuan M, Duan Q, Hong X, Chen G, Liao F, Wu P, and Miao C
- Subjects
- Animals, Male, Rats, beta Catenin metabolism, Disease Models, Animal, Rats, Sprague-Dawley, Humans, Cytokines metabolism, Anti-Inflammatory Agents therapeutic use, Anti-Inflammatory Agents pharmacology, Antidepressive Agents pharmacology, Antidepressive Agents therapeutic use, Arthritis, Rheumatoid drug therapy, Drugs, Chinese Herbal pharmacology, Drugs, Chinese Herbal therapeutic use, Wnt Signaling Pathway drug effects, Depression drug therapy, Depression metabolism, Wnt1 Protein metabolism, Wnt1 Protein genetics, Hippocampus metabolism, Hippocampus drug effects, Hippocampus pathology
- Abstract
Aim of the Study: Research on the mechanism of Huangqin Qingre Chubi Capsules (HQC) in improving rheumatoid arthritis accompanied depression (RA-dep) model rats., Methods: We employed real-time qPCR (RT-qPCR), western blotting (WB), confocal microscopy, bioinformatics, and other methods to investigate the anti-RA-dep effects of HQC and its underlying mechanisms., Results: HQC alleviated the pathological indexes of inflammation and depression in RA-dep model rats, decreased the levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-6, increased the levels of norepinephrine(NE) and serotonin(5-HT), and improved the injury of hippocampus. The analysis of network pharmacology suggests that HQC may target the Wnt/β-catenin pathway in the treatment of RA-dep. Furthermore, molecular dynamics simulations revealed a strong affinity between HQC and the Wnt1 molecule. RT-qPCR and Western Blot (WB) experiments confirmed the critical role of the Wnt1/β-catenin signaling pathway in the treatment of RA-dep model rats with HQC. In vitro, the HQC drug-containing serum (HQC-serum) activates the Wnt1/β-catenin signaling pathway in hippocampal cells and, in conjunction with Wnt1, ameliorates RA-dep. In summary, HQC exerts its anti-inflammatory and antidepressant effects in the treatment of RA-dep by binding to Wnt1 and regulating the Wnt1/β-catenin signaling pathway., Conclusions: HQC improved the inflammatory reaction and depression-like behavior of RA-dep model rats by activating Wnt1/β-catenin signal pathway. This study revealed a new pathogenesis of RA-dep and contributes to the clinical promotion of HQC in the treatment of RA-dep., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
- Published
- 2024
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