Effect of Qingyitang on activity of intracellular Ca^(2+)-Mg^(2+)-ATPase in rats with acute pancreatitis

AIM: To study the change of intracellular calcium-magnesium ATPase (Ca^2+-Mg^2+-ATPase) activity in pancreas, liver and kidney tissues of rats with acute pancreatitis (AP), and to investigate the effects of Qingyitang (QYT) (Decoction for clearing the pancreas) and tetrandrine (Tet) and vitamin E(VitE) on the activity of Ca^2+-Mg^2+-ATPase. METHODS: One hundred and five Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into: normal control group, AP group,treatment group with QYT (1 ml/100 g) or Tet (0.4 ml/100 g) or VitE (100 mg/kg). AP model was prepared by a retrograde injection of sodium taurocholate into the pancreatic duct. Tissues of pancreas, liver and kidney of the animals were taken at 1 h, 5 h, 10 h respectively afer AP induction, and the activity of Ca^2+-Mg^2+-ATPase was studied using enzymehistochemistry staining. Meanwhile, the expression of Ca^2^+-Mg^2+-ATPase of the tissues was studied by RT-PCR. RESULTS: The results showed that the positive rate of Ca^2+-Mg^2+-ATPase in AP group (8.3%, 25%, 29.2%) was lower than that in normal control group (100%) in all tissues(P<0.01), the positive rate of Ca^2+-Mg^2+-ATPase in treatment group with QYT (58.3%, 83.3%, 83.3%), Tet (50.0%,70.8%, 75.0%) and VitE (54.2%, 75.0%, 79.2%) was higher than that in AP group (8.3%, 25.0%, 29.2%) in all tissues(P<0.01). RT-PCR results demonstrated that in treatment groups Ca^2+-Mg^2+-ATPase gene expression in pancreas tissue was higher than that in AP group at the observing time points, and the expression at 5 h was higher than that at 1 h. The expression of Ca^2+-Mg^2+-ATPase in liver tissue was positive, but without significant difference between different groups. CONCLUSION: The activity and expression of intracellular Ca^2+-Mg^2+-ATPase decreased in rats with AP, suggesting that Ca^2+-Mg^2+-ATPase may contribute to the occurrence and development of cellular calcium overload in AP. QYT, Tet and VitE can increase the activity and expression of Ca^2+-Mg^2+-ATPase and may relieve intracellular calcium overload to protect the tissue and cells from injuries.

Effects of Tetrandrine and QYT on ICAM-1 and SOD gene expression in pancreas and liver of rats with acute pancreatitis

AIM: Available experimental evidence from both clinical andanimal models shows that both Chinese medicines tetrandine(Tet) and Qing Yi Tong (QYT) have positive treatment effectson acute pancreatitis (AP). This investigation was conductedto explore the treatment mechanisms of Tet and QYT on APat the molecular level and thereby explain their therapeuticaffects. It included an invest igation of the effects of thesedrugs on gene expression of both intercellular adhesionmolecule 1 (ICAM-1) and superoxide dismutase (Mn-SODand Cu, Zn-SOD) in a rat model with ARMETHODS: AP in the test rats was induced by subjectingthem to laparotomy followed by a retrograde injection of 4 %sodium taurocholate into the bilio-pancreatic duct. The testrats with AP were divided into three groups. One was treatedwith Tet, one with QYT, and one with normal saline solution.The sham-operated control group (SO) rats were only subjectedto laparotomy. They were given no further treatment. For theTet group, Tet was injected intraperitoneally, and for the QYTgroup, QYT was given with a nose-gastric catheter. Theseprocedures were done at both 10 min and 5 h after APinduction. The levels of ICAM-1 mRNA expression and ofSOD (Mn-SOD and Cu, Zn-SOD) mRNA expression in thepancreas and liver tissues were measured by RT-PCR at 1,5, and 10 h after AP induction.RESULTS: When compared with the SO group during theobservation time, rats with AP showed a higher expressionof ICAM and a lower expression of Mn-SOD in both pancreasand liver tissues, and a lower expression of Cu, Zn-SOD inthe pancreas. Tet treatment attenuated changes in theexpression of both ICAM-1, and SOD (Mn-SOD and Cu, Zn-SOD) to a significant degree. A similar effect on theexpression of SOD (Mn-SOD and Cu, Zn-SOD) was also foundin the QYT group, but no obvious suppressive effect onICAM-1 expression was observed.CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that oneof the main mechanisms of Tet and QYT in treating AP is toenhance anti-oxidation of the body. The results also suggestthat the anti-inflammatory effect of Tet is involved in thereduction of ICAM-1 expression. This explains why Tet andQYT are beneficial in treating AP.