Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Effect of Kang Fu Yan capsule on phenol mucilage-induced intrauterine adhesion injury in female rats

Qinghong Fan¹, Wei Xiao¹, Xiaomeng Chai¹, Zhe Zhang¹, Tao Zhu¹, Dan Tang¹, Kaihe Ye¹, Tianjun Luo², Qing Liu², Gang Huang², Yulan Yang², Hong Nie¹

¹Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Pharmacodynamic Constituents of TCM and New Drugs Research, College of Pharmacy, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, Guangdong; ²Long-Range Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd, Guiyang 550001, Guizhou, China.

For correspondence:- Hong Nie Email: hongnie1970@163.com Tel:+862085222810

Accepted: 26 April 2019 Published: 01 June 2019

Citation: Fan Q, Xiao W, Chai X, Zhang Z, Zhu T, Tang D, et al. Effect of Kang Fu Yan capsule on phenol mucilage-induced intrauterine adhesion injury in female rats. Trop J Pharm Res 2019; 18(5):1049-1056 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v18i5.19

© 2019 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the effect of Kang fu yan capsule (KFYC) on phenol mucilage-induced intrauterine adhesion (IUA) in a rat model, and the underlying mechanisms.

Methods: An IUA model was established by injecting 0.06 mL of 25 % phenol mucilage into the uterus of female Sprague-Dawley rats. The IUA model rats (n=59) were randomly divided into 5 groups: IUA group, fuke qianjin tablet group (FKQJT, 0.22 mg/kg), and 3 KFYC groups given different doses of the drug i.e. 0.13, 0.39and 1.17 mg/kg. A group of 10 healthy female rats served as control. After 19 days treatment, blood samples were collected for determination of IL-2 and IL-10 by ELISA, while uterine tissues were subjected to histological examination using hematoxylin and eosin staining (H&E) and Masson staining. expressions of Notch1, recombination signal binding protein-JK (RBP-JK), a disintegrin and metalloprotease (ADAM)-12, ADAM-15, matrix metalloprotein-9 (MMP-9), and inhibitor of NF-κB (IĸB) in uterine tissues were determined using RT-qPCR and western blot analysis.

Results: Compared to IUA group, histological results showed reduced inflammatory cell infiltration in rat uterine tissue of KFYC group. Moreover, KFYC significantly reversed uterine fibrosis (p < 0.05). Serum concentrations of IL-2 significantly decreased in KFYC groups (p < 0.05 or p < 0.01), and there was significant increases the serum concentrations of IL-10 in KFYC groups (p < 0.05 or < 0.01), when compared to IUA group. The mRNA and protein expressions of Notch1, RBP-JK, ADAM-12, ADAM-15, MMP-9 were also significantly down-regulated (p < 0.05), while protein expression of IĸB was up-regulated in KFYC group, when compared to IUA group.

Conclusion: KFYC exerts an anti-IUA effect via amelioration of uterine inflammation and fibrosis, probably via a mechanism involving regulation of Notch1/ADAM pathway.

Keywords: Intrauterine adhesion, Kang Fu Yan capsule, Notch1, ADAM-12