Effect of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Shuganjieyu Formula on Constipation Type Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Brain-gut Axis in Rats

doi:10.12300/j.issn.1674-5817.2022.135

Abstract

Abstract:

Objective To observe the intervention effect of Shuganjieyu Formula on the rat model of constipation irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-C) and its effects on 5- hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), and to explore their mechanism of regulating brain-gut axis function. Methods Totally fourty rats were randomly divided into four groups with 10 rats in each group, including normal control group, model group, low (5 mg/kg) and high (20 mg/kg) doses of Shuganjieyu Formula groups. Except for the normal control group, the other three groups of rats were gavaged with ice water for preparing the IBS-C model. Subsequently, the low and high doses groups of rats were treated with Shuganjieyu Formula for 2 weeks via oral gavage. The body weight of rats, total particle number and water content of fecal in the four groups were observed for 28 days. At last, serum of inferior vena cava and colon were collected from rats after anesthesia of 3% pentobarbital sodium. The morphological changes of colon tissue and the count of mast cells (MC) were observed with light microscope. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the positive expression of 5-HT in the colon of rats in each group. The serum levels of 5-HT, CRH and ACTH were detected by ELISA. Results Compared with the normal control group, the body weight of rats in IBS-C model group increased slowly, the number of fecal grains and the fecal water content decreased (P<0.05); the number of MC cells, the positive expression of 5-HT in colon tissue increased significantly in IBS-C group (P<0.05); the content of 5-HT in serum increased significantly, while the content of ACTH decreased significantly in IBS-C group (P<0.05). Colonic morphology showed no abnormal pathological changes in IBS-C model group. Compared with the model group, the body weight, fecal granule number and fecal water content of rats in each dose group of traditional Chinese medicine increased, but the differences were not statistically significant. The colon tissue structure of rats in each dose group of traditional Chinese medicine was normal. Compared with the model group, the number of MC cells and the positive expression of 5-HT in each dose group of traditional Chinese medicine decreased significantly (P<0.05), the content of 5-HT in serum decreased significantly, while the content of ACTH increased significantly (P<0.05). The dose-effect relationship between the low and high doses groups of Shuganjieyu Formula was not statistically significant. Conclusion The traditional Chinese medicine Shuganjieyu Formula can effectively improve the dysfunction of brain-gut axis in IBS-C model rats, and has a good therapeutic effect on IBS-C.

Key words: Constipation irritable bowel syndrome, Shuganjieyu Formula, Brain-gut axis function, Rats

CLC Number:

R-332

Bin WU, Xu WANG, Dongxu FU, Yujun ZHU, Jinlu HUANG, Shunxing ZHU. Effect of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Shuganjieyu Formula on Constipation Type Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Brain-gut Axis in Rats[J]. Laboratory Animal and Comparative Medicine, 2022, 42(6): 551-559.

Figures/Tables 4

Figure 1 Change trend of body mass, fecal particles and fecal water content of rats in each groupNote： NC, normal control group; Model, model control group; Low-dose, Shuganjieyu Formula low-dose group (5 g/kg); High-dose, Shuganjieyu Formula high-dose group (20 g/kg). A: Changes in body mass of rats with time, compared to the model group, *P<0.05, n=10; B and C: Tendency of changes in daily feces and their water content in all groups of rats, compared to the normal control group, *P<0.05, n=10.

Figure 2 Histopathological changes (toloniumchloride，×200) and the number of mast cells in colon of ratsNote：Left, the results of modified toloniumchloride staining of colon tissue (the scale of each small figure was all 50 μm). A: Normal control group; B: Model control group; C and D: Low- (5 g/kg) and high- (20 g/kg) dose of Shuganjieyu Formula groups. E: The statistical data of mass cells positive cells, compared to the model group, **P<0.01，***P<0.001, n=10。

Figure 3 5-HT immunohistochemical staining of colon tissue of rats （DAB，×200 ）Note：On the left is the colon tissue immunohistochemical staining (DAB, all of which have the same scale size, 50 μm). A is the normal control group (NC), B is the model control group (Model), C is the low-dose (5 g/kg) group of Shuganjieyu Formula (low-dose), D is the high-dose (20 g/kg) group of Shuganjieyu Formula (high-dose). E: The semi-quantitative statistical graph of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) positive expression area, compared with the model group, **P<0.01, n=10。

Figure 4 Comparison of 5-HT, CRH and ACTH contents in serum of rats in the four groups (ELISA)Note: ACTH, adrenocorticotropic hormone; CRH, corticotropin releasing hormone; 5-HT, 5-hydroxytryptamine. NC, Normal control group; Model, model control group; Low-dose, Shuganjieyu Formula low-dose group (5 g/kg); High-dose, Shuganjieyu Formula high-dose group (20 g/kg). Compared to the model group，ns indicates P>0.05，*P<0.05，**P<0.01，***P<0.001; n=10.

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