Traditional Chinese Medicine Da-Cheng-Qi-Tang Ameliorates Impaired Gastrointestinal Motility and Intestinal Inflammatory Response in a Mouse Model of Postoperative Ileus

Chunqiu Chen; Min Li; Xiaohong Liu; Jianwei Fan; Hong Zhang; Sisi Lin; Lu Yin; Jakub Fichna; Yongyu Li

doi:10.1155/2020/9074069

Traditional Chinese Medicine Da-Cheng-Qi-Tang Ameliorates Impaired Gastrointestinal Motility and Intestinal Inflammatory Response in a Mouse Model of Postoperative Ileus

Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2020 Jul 31:2020:9074069. doi: 10.1155/2020/9074069. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Chunqiu Chen^{1

2}, Min Li³, Xiaohong Liu³, Jianwei Fan⁴, Hong Zhang⁴, Sisi Lin², Lu Yin¹, Jakub Fichna⁵, Yongyu Li²

Affiliations

¹ Department of General Surgery, Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200072, China.
² Institute of Digestive Disease, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200092, China.
³ Department of Physiology, Zunyi Medical College, Zunyi 563000, China.
⁴ Medical Experiment Center, Shaanxi University of Chinese Medicine, Xianyang, Shaanxi 712046, China.
⁵ Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland.

Abstract

This study was to explore the therapeutic effect and mechanism of the traditional Chinese medicine with the formula Da-Cheng-Qi-Tang (T-DCQT) and a modified Da-Cheng-Qi-Tang (M-DCQT) in a postoperative ileus (POI) mouse model. POI was induced via small bowel manipulation, and T-DCQT or M-DCQT was given by enema. The intestinal motility was measured with a charcoal mixture gavage. The intestinal tissues were collected for further studies by histopathological, qPCR, immunohistochemical staining, and Western blotting. Levels of inflammatory cytokines in blood were determined using a high-throughput liquid chip. We found that gastrointestinal dysfunction was alleviated after administration of either a T-DCQT or M-DCQT enema. Increased expression of NF-κB, p38 MAPK, and TLR4 in the intestinal tissues of POI mice were reversed following treatment. IL-1α, IL-6, MIP-1β, and IL-17 levels were significantly reduced at 24 h and 48 h following treatment, while the MCP-1 level was only observed to be reduced at 24 h after the treatment. Furthermore, compared with the T-DCQT effect, M-DCQT treatment was more effective in alleviating the increased IL-6, MIP-1β, and IL-1α levels. So, we draw a conclusion that T-DCQT or M-DCOT could ameliorate the POI-associated inflammatory response and improve GI motility in a POI mouse model.