Abstract
Background/Aims: Mastitis is an acute clinical inflammatory response. The occurrence and development of mastitis seriously disturb women's physical and mental health. Licochalcone A, a phenolic compound in Glycyrrhiza uralensis, has anti-inflammatory properties. Here, we examined the effect of licochalcone A on blood-milk barrier and inflammatory response in LPS-induced mice mastitis.Methods: In vivo, we firstly established mice models of mastitis by canal injection of LPS to mammary gland, and then detected the effect of licochalcone A on pathological indexes, inflammatory responses and blood-milk barrier in this model. In vivo, Mouse mammary epithelial cells (mMECs) were treated with licochalcone A prior to the incubation of LPS, and then the inflammatory responses, tight junction which is the basic structure of blood-milk barrier were analyzed. Last, we elucidated the anti-inflammatory mechanism by examining the activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and AKT/NF-κB signaling pathways in vivo and in vitro.Result: The in vivo results showed that licochalcone A significantly decreased the histopathological impairment and the inflammatory responses, and improved integrity of blood-milk barrier. The in vitro results demonstrated that licochalcone A inhibited LPS-induced inflammatory responses and increase the protein levels of ZO-1, occludin, and claudin3 in mMECs. The in vivo and in vitro mechanistic study found that the anti-inflammatory effect of licochalcone A in LPS-induced mice mastitis was mediated by MAPK and AKT/NF-κB signaling pathways.Conclusions and Implications: Our experiments collectively indicate that licochalcone A protected against LPS-induced mice mastitis via improving the blood–milk barrier integrity and inhibits the inflammatory response by MAPK and AKT/NF-κB signaling pathways.
Highlights
Mastitis, a common clinical disease in both animals and humans [1, 2], is an acute condition with obvious symptoms of inflammation
To further elucidate the anti-inflammatory mechanism, we examined the effect of licochalcone A on LPS-induced activation of AKT/NF-κB and Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase (MAPK) signaling pathways in mammary epithelial cells (mMECs)
Our findings demonstrated that licochalcone A could significantly alleviate mastitis via reducing inflammatory response and protecting the blood-milk barrier in LPS-induced mice mastitis
Summary
A common clinical disease in both animals and humans [1, 2], is an acute condition with obvious symptoms of inflammation. Mastitis has a potential negative effect on breastfeeding and is a main cause of considerable physical and psychological pain during lactation [5, 6]. While antibiotics generally have a positive effect on bacteriostasis [7], they are not useful for controlling the development of subsequent inflammation [8]. As a traditional Chinese medicine monomer with anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties [15, 16], it has several advantages over traditional antibiotics. Drug resistance to this compound is relatively uncommon [17], along with a significant inhibitory effect on inflammation. We speculate that licochalcone A may have a protective effect on mastitis
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