The present study is designed to investigate the effect of hydroxysafflor yellow A (HYA) on Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus)-induced mouse endometrial inflammation and to explore its molecular mechanism. We established a mouse endometritis model by intrauterine injection of S. aureus and intrauterine injection of HYA for treatment. Immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, and Western blot were used to detect protein expression in uterine tissue, and qPCR was used to measure mRNA expression. HYA could significantly weak uterine pathological changes caused by S. aureus and reduce MPO activity, CD45, CD3, and ED-1 protein expression in uterine tissues of S. aureus-infected mice. Similarly, HYA also significantly decreased S. aureus induced the increase in TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 in uterine tissue. In vivo, we found that knockdown of TLR2 was very important could significantly reduce S. aureus induced the elevated expression of TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 in mEECs. Importantly, in terine tissues of S. aureus-infected mice, HYA significantly decreased the ratio of p-p65/p65, p-IKBα/IKBα, p-p38/p38, p-Erk/Erk, and p-JNK/JNK expression. HYA displays anti-inflammatory effects on S. aureus mouse endometrial inflammation, and this effect might be related to HYA which could block TLR2-mediated NF-kB and MAPK pathway.
Keywords: Staphylococcus aureus; TLR2; endometritis; hydroxysafflor yellow A.