Objective:To investigate the effect of astragalus polysaccharide(APS)on macrophage phagocytosis of P.aerugino-sa and its related mechanism.Methods:The effect of APS on the activity of macrophages was detected by CCK-8 assay.The effect of APS on macrophage phagocytosis related signal pathways were detected by Western blot.Gentamicin protection test and flow cytometry were employed to evaluate the effect of APS on macrophage phagocytosis of P.aeruginosa.Then the macrophages were pretreated with the inhibitors of TLR4,NF-κB,STAT3,MAPK and PI3K to assess the mechanism mediating APS on macrophage phagocytosis.Results:APS promotes the activity of macrophages,and significantly promoted the phagocytosis of P.aeruginosa by macrophages.Fur-thermore,macrophage phagocytosis of P.aeruginosa was significantly inhibited by TLR4 inhibitors(TAK242)and PI3K inhibitors(LY294002),but not affected by NF-κB,STAT3 and MAPK inhibitors.Conclusion:APS has no toxicity on macrophages,and can promote the phagocytosis of macrophages to P.aeruginosa,the underlying mechanism may be related to TLR4/PI3K pathway.

Objective:To investigate the effect of astragalus polysaccharide(APS)on macrophage phagocytosis of P.aerugino-sa and its related mechanism.Methods:The effect of APS on the activity of macrophages was detected by CCK-8 assay.The effect of APS on macrophage phagocytosis related signal pathways were detected by Western blot.Gentamicin protection test and flow cytometry were employed to evaluate the effect of APS on macrophage phagocytosis of P.aeruginosa.Then the macrophages were pretreated with the inhibitors of TLR4,NF-κB,STAT3,MAPK and PI3K to assess the mechanism mediating APS on macrophage phagocytosis.Results:APS promotes the activity of macrophages,and significantly promoted the phagocytosis of P.aeruginosa by macrophages.Fur-thermore,macrophage phagocytosis of P.aeruginosa was significantly inhibited by TLR4 inhibitors(TAK242)and PI3K inhibitors(LY294002),but not affected by NF-κB,STAT3 and MAPK inhibitors.Conclusion:APS has no toxicity on macrophages,and can promote the phagocytosis of macrophages to P.aeruginosa,the underlying mechanism may be related to TLR4/PI3K pathway.

Background and Objectives: The maternal-fetal interface is an important source of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), and it is influenced by high levels of estradiol (E2) during pregnancy. It is highly important to study the role of E2 in MSCs for both clinical application and understanding of the mechanisms underlying pregnancy related diseases. Methods: and Results: In this study, differently expressed genes (DEGs) were found in the MSCs after exposure to E2. Then, Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis of DEGs was performed and the integrated regulatory network of DEGs-miRNA was constructed. A total of 390 DEGs were found in the MSCs exposed to E2, including 164 upregulated DEGs (e.g. ADCY2, VEGFA and PPY) and 226 downregulated DEGs (e.g. KNG1, AGT and NPY). Additionally, 10 miRNAs (such as miR-148A/B, miR-152, miR-182) identified the integrated regulatory network of DEGs-miRNAs. Among them, the expression of ADCY2 was significantly upregulated, and this was associated with multiple changed genes. We confirmed that the expression of ADCY2 is significantly promoted by E2 and subsequently promoted the production of cAMP in MSCs. We also found that E2 promoted ADCY2 expression by inhibiting miR-152 and miR-148a. Conclusions E2 promotes the expression of cAMP through miR-148a/152-ADCY2 in MSCs. It is suggested that E2 plays a key role in the growth and function of MSCs.