Objective To investigate the effects of dexamethasone (DEX) on vascular endothelial growth factor( VEGF) in cerebrospinal fluid of rabbits with bacterial meningitis. Methods A total of 36 rabbits were assigned to study,which were randomly divided into meningitis model group (MOD) .dexametha-sone-treated group (DEXT) and control group( CON). CSF was sampled for determining at 6 h, 12 h and 24 h after injection of E. coli suspension. The concentration of VEGF in every CSF sample was determined quantitatively by ELISA. Results There were higher concentrations of CSF VEGF at6h,12h and 24hin M0D(( 1219 ±176) ng/L,( 1343 ±160) ng/L,(981 ±134) ng/L) than that in CON( (374 ±172) ng/L, (370 ± 169) ng/L,(367 ± 171) ng/L) (P<0.01). There was higher brain water content in M0D( (80.8 ± 0.5) % ) than that in CON( (80.0 ± 0.5) % ) (P < 0.01). There was positive correlation between the brain water content and the concentration of CSF VEGF at 24 h( r - 0.919,P < 0.01). Compared with MOD, the concentrations of CSF VEGF in DEXT at 6 h, 12 h,24 h ((941 ±147) ng/L, (1083 ± 123) ng/L, (825 ± 66) ng/L) were decreased significantly(P <0.05), the brain water content was less ((80.4 ±0.5) %) (P < 0.05). Conclusion The secretion of VEGF markedly increases in the pathological process of bacterial meningitis. VEGF contributes to the damage of blood brain barrier and the formation of brain edema. DEX can decrease the degree of brain edema by suppressing the generation of VEGF and lightening the damage of blood brain barrier.

ObjectiveTo explore the regulatory effect and mechanism of Danggui Shaoyaosan combined with Yinchenhaotang on lipid metabolism in the mouse model of type 2 diabetes mellitus （T2DM） complicated with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease （MASLD） based on network pharmacology and animal experiments. MethodsTwenty-four MKR transgenic diabetic mice were randomly allocated into 4 groups： Model， low-dose （12.6 g·kg^-1） Chinese medicine （concentrated decoction of Danggui Shaoyaosan combined with Yinchenhaotang）， high-dose （25.2 g·kg^-1） Chinese medicine， and Western medicine （metformin， 0.065 g·kg^-1）. Six FVB mice were used as the normal group. All groups were treated for 6 consecutive weeks. The mice in the drug treatment groups were administrated with corresponding agents by gavage， and those in the normal group and model group received the same volume of distilled water. Fasting blood glucose， body weight， liver weight， glucose tolerance， liver function indicators， blood lipid levels， and pathological changes in the liver were evaluated for each group. Network pharmacology was employed to analyze the targets and pathways of Danggui Shaoyaosan combined with Yinchenhaotang in the treatment of T2DM complicated with MASLD. Molecular biological techniques were used to verify the enriched key targets. ResultsCompared with the model group， each treatment group showed reduced fasting blood glucose， body weight， aspartate aminotransferase （AST）， alanine aminotransferase （ALT）， and liver weight （P<0.01）. The high-dose Chinese medicine group was superior to the low-dose group in reducing low-density lipoprotein （LDL）， increasing high-density lipoprotein （HDL）， and recovering glucose tolerance （AUC） and ALT （P<0.05）， with the effect similar to that of the Western medicine group. Morphologically， Chinese medicine groups showed reduced lipid accumulation and alleviated pathological damage in the liver tissue， with the high-dose group demonstrating more significant changes. Network pharmacology results showed that Danggui Shaoyaosan combined with Yinchenhaotang may exert therapeutic effects through multiple targets such as fatty acid synthase （FAS）， acetyl-CoA carboxylase （ACC）， B-cell lymphoma-2 （Bcl-2）， MYC oncogene （MYC）， and interleukin-1β （IL-1β）. Western blot showed that compared with the model group， the treatment groups demonstrated down-regulated protein levels of FAS and ACC （P<0.01） and up-regulated protein levels of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator-1α （PGC-1α） and UCP1 （P<0.01）. Compared with the low-dose Chinese medicine group， the high-dose Chinese medicine group exhibited down-regulated protein levels of FAS and ACC and up-regulated protein levels of PGC-1α and UCP1 （P<0.05）. ConclusionDanggui Shaoyaosan combined with Yinchenhaotang has the effect of ameliorating T2DM complicated with MASLD and can improve the liver lipid metabolism by up-regulating the protein levels of Fas and ACC and down-regulating the protein levels of PGC-1α and UCP1.