Coleus Forskolin Briq. Extract inhibits inflammatory via NF-kappa B signaling in cough and asthma model

Abstract

Asthma is characterized by airway inflammatory infiltration, leading to airway remodeling and airway hyperreactivity. There are many drugs that can be used to treat asthma, but the mechanism is not clear. Western medicine is remarkable on the treatment but with larger side- effects, so it is extremely urgent to look for better efficacy and less side-effects of drug in treating asthma. Traditional Chinese medicine obtains the attention of many scholars because of its curative effect and less side- effects. Coleus Forskolin Briq. (CFK) is very effective to treat cough, asthma, panic and other diseases. In order to explore the anti-asthma mechanism of CFK, this experiment mainly used guinea pigs and rats to analyze the effects of treating bronchial asthma. Guinea pigs were induced by spray of phosphoric acid histamine, and Rats were sensitized with ovalbumin. The experiment used HE staining to observe pathological changes of the lung tissues. ELISA was used to measure the related cytokines of serum and alveolar lavage fluid. Immunohistochemistry and western blot were used to assess the expression of relevant indicators. After the CFK treatment, the asthma incubation period of guinea pigs was significantly prolonged. In addition, the number of eosinophils in the 12.8 g/kg CFK group was significantly lower than that in the control group from the result of HE. ELISA results demonstrated IL-4, IL-5 and IL-17 in serum and alveolar lavage fluid were significantly decreased, IFN-gamma and IL-10 increased after CFK treatment. CFK led to downregulation of ICAM-1 and NF-kappa B, blocked the activity of MMP-9 and TIMP-1 in lung tissue after ovalbumin sensitization. In conclusion, these results indicated that CFK significantly alleviated ovalbumin-induced inflammatory infiltration and airway remodeling in asthma. This study has laid a theoretical foundation for the clinical using of CFK.