Protective effect of ginsenoside Rg_1 aganist diabetic retinopathy by inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasome in type 2 diabetic mice.
10.19540/j.cnki.cjcmm.20210926.401
- Author:
Bin LI
1
;
Da-Chuan ZHANG
1
;
Xue-Wang LI
2
;
Xia-Nan DONG
2
;
Wei-Ping LI
2
;
Wei-Zu LI
2
Author Information
1. Department of Ophthalmology, the Third People's Hospital of Hefei Hefei 230022, China.
2. Department of Pharmacology/Key Laboratory of Anti-inflammatory and Immunopharmacology, Ministry of Education/Pharmacology 3rd Grade Laboratory of State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Anhui Medical University Hefei 230032, China.
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
NLRP3 inflammasome;
diabetic retinopathy;
ginsenoside Rg_1;
vascular transforming growth factor
- MeSH:
Aged;
Animals;
Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental/metabolism*;
Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2/genetics*;
Diabetic Retinopathy/genetics*;
Ginsenosides/pharmacology*;
Humans;
Inflammasomes/metabolism*;
Mice;
Middle Aged;
NF-kappa B/metabolism*;
NLR Family, Pyrin Domain-Containing 3 Protein/metabolism*;
Signal Transduction;
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A/genetics*
- From:
China Journal of Chinese Materia Medica
2022;47(2):476-483
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Ginsenoside Rg_1, one of the main active components of precious traditional Chinese medicine Ginseng Radix et Rhizoma, has the anti-oxidative stress, anti-inflammation, anti-aging, neuroprotection, and other pharmacological effects. Diabetic retinopathy(DR), the most common complication of diabetes, is also the main cause of impaired vision and blindness in the middle-aged and the elderly. The latest research shows that ginsenoside Rg_1 can protect patients against DR, but the protection and the mechanism are rarely studied. This study mainly explored the protective effect of ginsenoside Rg_1 against DR in type 2 diabetic mice and the mechanism. High fat diet(HFD) and streptozotocin(STZ) were used to induce type 2 diabetes in mice, and hematoxylin-eosin(HE) staining was employed to observe pathological changes in the retina of mice. The immunohistochemistry was applied to study the localization and expression of nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptors 3(NLRP3) and vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) in retina, and Western blot was used to detect the expression of nuclear factor-kappa B(NF-κB), p-NF-κB, NLRP3, caspase-1, interleukin-1β(IL-1β), transient receptor potential channel protein 6(TRPC6), nuclear factor of activated T-cell 2(NFAT2), and VEGF in retina. The results showed that ginsenoside Rg_1 significantly alleviated the pathological injury of retina in type 2 diabetic mice. Immunohistochemistry results demonstrated that ginsenoside Rg_1 significantly decreased the expression of NLRP3 and VEGF in retinal ganglion cells, middle plexiform layer, and outer plexiform layer in type 2 diabetic mice. According to the Western blot results, ginsenoside Rg_1 significantly lowered the expression of p-NF-κB, NLRP3, caspase-1, IL-1β, TRPC6, NFAT2, and VEGF in retina of type 2 diabetic mice. These findings suggest that ginsenoside Rg_1 can significantly alleviate DR in type 2 diabetic mice, which may be related to inhibition of NLRP3 inflammasome and VEGF. This study provides experimental evidence for the clinical application of ginsenoside Rg_1 in the treatment of DR.
