Protective Effects of Ligustrazine on TNF-a-Induced Endothelial Dysfunction
Hong-Jin Wu P
PBeijing Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Beijing, China
Abstract:
1. Endothelial dysfunction is a key event occurring in the early stage of atherosclerosis, known as a chronic inflammatory disease. Ligustrazine, a compound derived from chuanxiong, has been widely used for patients with coronary vascular diseases including atherosclerosis for more than 30 years in China. However, its pharmacological mechanisms are far from clear. The purpose of this study was to investigate its regulatory function on endothelial dysfunction.
2. Stimulation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) with TNF-α induces inflammation, resulting in endothelial dysfunction with a marked decrease in nitric oxide production. Accumulated evidence shows that immune response is closely related to inflammation. Hence, two important indicators of autoimmunity, intercellular adhesion molecular-1 (ICAM-1) and heat shock protein 60 (HSP60), were chosen to evaluate the influence of ligustrazine on immune process in HUVECs treated with TNF-α.
3. Ligustrazine significantly reversed NO production induced by TNF-α in HUVECs. The expressions of ICAM-1 and HSP60 were increased by TNF-α, but they were dramatically inhibited by the treatment of ligustrazine in TNF-α-stimulated cells. These results suggested that ligustrazine may protect endothelium via inhibition of the immunologic reactions, which would prevent the process of atherosclerosis.
