Xueting Jin, Junbo Ge, Aijun Sun, Kai Hu, Yunzeng Zou, Keqiang Wang, Lifu Jia, Tao Zhao, Buchang Zhao, Jingjing Zhao, Shuxia Fan, Hangtian Zhao, Cong Wang, Xiangwei Liu, Xin Ma, Shijun Wang and Hong Zhu Pages 5891 - 5896 ( 6 )
Naoxintong (NXT), a Chinese Materia Medica standardized product, extracted from 16 various kinds of Chinese traditional herbal medicines including Salvia miltiorrhiza, Angelica sinennsis, Astragali Radix, is clinically effective in treating atherosclerosisrelated diseases. Here, we tested the hypothesis that the anti-atherosclerosis effects of NXT might be mediated by suppressing maturation of dendritic cells (DCs) in a mice model of atherosclerosis. LDLR-/- mice fed a high-fat diet were treated with placebo, NXT (0.7g/kg/d, oral diet) or simvastatin (100mg/kg/d, oral diet) for 8 weeks, respectively. NXT treatment significantly reduced plasma triglyceride (112±18 mg/dl vs. 192±68 mg/dl, P<0.05) and total cholesterol (944±158 mg/dl vs. 1387±208 mg/dl, P<0.05) compared to placebo treatment. Vascular lesions were significantly smaller and macrophage content and amount of DCs in plaques were significantly less in NXT and simvastatin groups than in placebo group (all P<0.05). In addition, expressions of splenic DC membrane molecules (CD40, CD86 and CD80) and the plasma level of IL-12p70 were significantly lower in NXT and simvastatin groups than in placebo group. In conclusion, NXT protects against atherosclerosis through lipid-lowering and inhibiting DCs maturation in this mice model of atherosclerosis.
Atherosclerosis, naoxintong, dendritic cell.
, Shanghai Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, 180 Fenglin Rd, Shanghai 200032,PR China.