Total flavonoids of hawthorn leaves promote motor function recovery via inhibition of apoptosis after spinal cord injury

Flavonoids have been reported to have therapeutic potential for spinal cord injury.Hawthorn leaves have abundant content and species of total flavonoids,and studies of the effects of the total flavonoids of hawthorn leaves on spinal cord injury have not been published in or outside China.Therefore,Sprague-Dawley rats were used to establish a spinal cord injury model by Allen's method.Rats were intraperitoneally injected with 0.2 m L of different concentrations of total flavonoids of hawthorn leaves(5,10,and 20 mg/kg)after spinal cord injury.Injections were administered once every 6 hours,three times a day,for 14 days.After treatment with various concentrations of total flavonoids of hawthorn leaves,the Basso,Beattie,and Bresnahan scores and histological staining indicated decreases in the lesion cavity and number of apoptotic cells of the injured spinal cord tissue;the morphological arrangement of the myelin sheath and nerve cells tended to be regular;and the Nissl bodies in neurons increased.The Basso,Beattie,and Bresnahan scores of treated spinal cord injury rats were increased.Western blot assays showed that the expression levels of pro-apoptotic Bax and cleaved caspase-3 were decreased,but the expression level of the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 protein was increased.The improvement of the above physiological indicators showed a dose-dependent relationship with the concentration of total flavonoids of hawthorn leaves.The above findings confirm that total flavonoids of hawthorn leaves can reduce apoptosis and exert neuroprotective effects to promote the recovery of the motor function of rats with spinal cord injury.This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Guangxi Medical University of China(approval No.201810042)in October 2018.

Hawthorn Leaves Flavonoids Decreases Inflammation Related to Acute Myocardial Ischemia/Reperfusion in Anesthetized Dogs

Objective： To investigate the effects and mechanisms of hawthorn leaves flavonoids （HLF） on acute myocardial ischemiaJreperfusion in anesthetized dogs. Methods： The acute ischemia models were prepared by ligating left anterior descending （LAD） artery for 60 min. Qualified 15 male dogs were randomly divided into 3 groups with 5 in each group： blank control （treated with normal saline 3 mL/kg） group, HLF low dosage （5 mg/kg） group and high dosage （10 mg/kg） group, with an once injection through a femoral vein 5 min before reperfusion. Epicardial electrocardiogram was adopted to measure the scope and degree of myocardial ischemia. Simultaneously, neutrophil infiltration in infarct （Inf） and remote site （RS） of myocardial tissue was measured by myeloperoxidase （MPO） activity assay. The serum interleukin-1 （IL-1） and tumor necrosis factor~ （TNF-~） content were quantified by radioimmuno-assay. Furthermore, expression of G protein-coupled receptor kinase 2 （GRK2） and nuclear factor K B （NF- K B） in Inf and RS tissue were detected by Western blotting technique. Results： Ischemia and reperfusion increased the MPO activity and IL-1 and TNF-~ content. HLF （10 and 5 mg/kg） could significantly decrease the degree and scope of myocardial ischemia; markedly inhibit the increase of MPO activity, and IL-1 and TNF-o~ content induced by myocardial ischemia/infarction. Furthermore, HLF increased GRK2 expression and inhibited NF- K B expression in Inf tissue. Conclusion： HLF could improve the situation of acute myocardial ischemia and inhibit the inflammation in anesthetized dogs, which might be due to its increasing effect on the GRK2 and NF- K B expressions.