The Role of Oxymatrine in Regulating Hematopoietic Stem Cell (HSC) Mitochondrial Apoptosis and Improving Prognosis of Rats with Liver Cirrhosis Through AMP-Activated Protein Kinase (AMPK) Signal Pathway

Abstract

Our study was aimed to study the mechanism of oxymatrine in regulating the Hematopoietic Stem Cell (HSC) mitochondrial apoptosis and improving prognosis of rats with liver cirrhosis through AMPK signal pathway. The HSC cells were cultivated and identified by IHC method. The inhibition rates for active HSC cells by oxymatrine at several concentrations were as follows; 0.5, 1, 2, 4 and 8 mg/mL, as detected by MTT method. The optimum interfered concentration was confirmed. The condition for apoptosis in HSC cells interfered with oxymatrine at 0.125, 0.25, and 0.5 mg/mL concentrations. The variation of apoptosis in control group and model group was also observed through TEM. The active presentation of AMPK, PAMPK, Caspsase-3 and BCL-2 was detected with RT-PCR. The index of hepatic function in venous blood of rats’ eyeball was tested, and degree of hepatic fibrosis in liver tissue homogenate was also tested. Expression of AMPK/PAMPK, Caspsase-3 and BCL-2 was detected with Western Blot assay. Results showed that, proliferative rate was elevated along with prolonged cultivation duration. The optimum drug interfered concentration was 0.5 mg/mL. The expression of AMPK, PAMPK, Caspsase-3 and BCL-2 in model group was notably higher than in the control group. There was splitting decomposition in cell nucleus and cohesion in cytoplasm after HSC cells were disposed with oxymatrine. The expression of AMPK, Caspsase-3 and BCL-2 was prompted to induce generation of mitochondrial apoptosis, and level of liver function and indicators of hepatic fibrosis were reduced effectively. The prognosis of rats with liver cirrhosis could then be improved.