OBJECTIVES: To investigate the therapeutic effects of inulin-type oligosaccharides of Morinda officinalis (IOMO) in a murine model of Streptococcus pneumoniae meningitis (SPM) and explore its possible mechanisms. METHODS: A total of 120 male C57BL/6J mice were randomly assigned into Sham, SPM+Saline, SPM+IOMO (25 mg/kg), and SPM+IOMO (50 mg/kg) groups. After modeling, the mice received daily gavage of saline or IOMO at the indicated doses for 7 consecutive days, and the changes in symptom scores and mortality of the mice were monitored. Brain pathology and neuronal injury of the mice were assessed using HE and Nissl staining, and qRT-PCR was performed to detect mRNA levels of the inflammatory mediators. Brain edema and blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability of the mice were evaluated by measuring brain water content and Evans blue (EB) staining; Western blotting was used to analyze the expressions of BBB-associated proteins, and flow cytometry was employed to detect IFN‑γ expression level in the infiltrating lymphocytes. Open-field test (OFT) and novel object recognition test (NORT) were conducted to assess learning and memory ability of the mice on day 21 after modeling. RESULTS: IOMO treatment at 50 mg/kg significantly reduced the symptom scores and mortality rate of SPM mice, alleviated brain damage, and downregulated mRNA levels of IL-6, TNF‑α, IL-1β, IL-18, IFN‑γ, iNOS, NLRP3, ASC, caspase-1 and GSDMD in the brain tissue. IOMO treatment also decreased brain water content and EB leakage, upregulated VE-cadherin and occludin expressions, and suppressed AQP4, iNOS, and IFN‑γ levels of the mice. IOMO-treated mice exhibited improved learning and memory compared with the saline-treated mice on day 21 after SPM modeling. CONCLUSIONS IOMO alleviates SPM symptoms, reduces mortality, and mitigates cognitive deficits in mice possibly by suppressing cerebral inflammation and protecting BBB functions.
Animals ; Morinda/chemistry* ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Male ; Mice ; Meningitis, Pneumococcal/drug therapy* ; Blood-Brain Barrier/metabolism* ; Inulin/therapeutic use* ; Oligosaccharides/therapeutic use* ; Disease Models, Animal ; Interferon-gamma/metabolism* ; Brain Edema

AIM:To predict the mechanism of Sanguis draconis flavones(SDF)in the prevention and treat-ment of myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury(MIRI)based on network pharmacology and molecular docking methods.METHODS:The main chemical constituents of SDF were collected through literature search,and the targets of key con-stituents were screened by using the SwissTargetPrediction and TargetNet databases.Disease targets were also screened based on GeneCards,OMIM,TTD and PharmGkb databases,then targets were intersected with Cytoscape to construct the"drug-key constituent-target"network diagram,and the core target was obtained through visualization and analysis by Cytoscape software.Gene Ontology(GO)functional enrichment and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes(KEGG)pathway enrichment analyses were analyzed by the Metascape platform.By utilizing AutoDock Vina software and Pymol,molecular docking between core compounds and core targets was carried out.Further,animal experiments were performed to explore the pharmacodynamic mechanism of SDF.RESULTS:The active constituents of SDF included loureirin B and loureirin A,which were mapped to 391 targets.A total of 3 096 MIRI disease targets were obtained from the database,af-ter intersection,172 intersection targets were obtained,and 56 core targets were acquired through analysis.The core relat-ed pathways included the cancer pathway and cell death signaling pathway.The results of molecular docking verified the strong binding activity between key constituents and key targets.Animal experiments demonstrated that SDF effectively prevented and treated MIRI,significantly inhibited the arachidonic acid 15-lipoxygenase(ALOX15)mRNA and protein expression,and reduced the myocardial infarction size after MIRI.CONCLUSION:SDF may play a positive role in the treatment of MIRI,which may be related to the regulation of the ALOX15 factor.