Schisandra Inhibit Bleomycin-Induced Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis in Rats via Suppressing M2 Macrophage Polarization
BIOMED RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL
Authors: Guo, Zhaojuan; Li, Siru; Zhang, Nan; Kang, Qianjun; Zhai, Huaqiang
Abstract
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is defined as a specific form of chronic, progressive fibrosing interstitial pneumonia of unknown cause and limited to the lungs.Schisandrae chinensis fructus(Wuweizi, Schisandra) is commonly used traditional Chinese medicines (TCM) for the treatment of pulmonary fibrosis, bronchitis, and other lung diseases in China. In this study, we investigated the therapeutic effect of Schisandra on IPF which is induced by bleomycin (BLM) in rats and the inhibition of alternatively activated macrophage (M2) polarization. Bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis was used as a model for IPF, and rats were given drug interventions for 7 and 28 days to evaluate the role of Schisandra in the early oxidative phase and late fibrotic phases of BLM-induced pulmonary injury. The data showed that Schisandra exerted protective effects on BLM-induced pulmonary injury in two phases, which were improving inflammatory cell infiltration and severe damages of lung architectures and decreasing markers of M2 subtype. In order to prove the inhibitory effect of Schisandra on M2 polarization, in vitro experiments, we found that Schisandra downregulated the M2 ratio, which confirmed that the polarization of M2 was suppressed. Moreover, Schisandra blocked TGF-beta 1 signaling in AMs by reducing the levels of Smad3 and Smad4; meanwhile, the upregulation of Smad7 by Schisandra also promoted the effect of inhibition on the TGF-beta 1/Smad pathway. These results demonstrate that suppression of M2 polarization by Schisandra is associated with the development of IPF in rats.
Preparation of Dual-Template Epitope Imprinted Polymers for Targeted Fluorescence Imaging and Targeted Drug Delivery to Pancreatic Cancer BxPC-3 Cells
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
Authors: Jia, Chao; Zhang, Man; Zhang, Yan; Ma, Zi-Bo; Xiao, Nan-Nan; He, Xi-Wen; Li, Wen-You; Zhang, Yu-Kui
Abstract
Molecularly imprinted polymers were commonly used for drug delivery. However, single-template molecularly imprinted polymers often fail to achieve both drug delivery and precise targeting. To address this issue, a dual-template molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticle used for targeted diagnosis and drug delivery for pancreatic cancer BxPC-3 cells (FH-MIPNPs) was prepared. In the FH-MIPNPs, the 71-80 peptide of human fibroblast growthfactor-inducible 14 modified with glucose (Glu-FH) and bleomycin (BLM) were used as templates simultaneously, so that the FH-MIPNPs could load BLM and bind to the BxPC3 cells, which overexpress human fibroblast growth-factorinducible 14 (FN14). Targeted imaging experiments in vitro show that the FH-MIPNPs could specifically target BxPC-3 cells and that there is no targeting effect on cells without expression of FN14. In vivo antitumor experiment results demonstrated that the FH-MIPNP-loaded BLM (FH-MIPNPs/BLM) could inhibit the growth of xenografts tumor of BxPC-3 (tumor volume increased to 1.05X), which shows that FH-MIPNPs/BLM had obvious targeted therapeutic effect compared to the other three control groups of BLM, FH-NIPNPs/BLM, and physiological saline (tumor volume increased to 1.5X, 1.6X, and 2.4X, respectively). What is more, FH-MIPNPs have low biotoxicity through toxicity experiments in vitro and in vivo, which is favorable toward making molecularly imprinted polymers an effective platform for tumor-targeted imaging and therapy.