Background: Salvianolic acid A (Sal A), a natural polyphenol compound extracted from Radix Salvia miltiorrhiza (known as Danshen in China), possesses a variety of potential pharmacological activities. The aim of this study is to determine mechanisms of hepatoprotective effects of Sal A against lipotoxicity both in cultured hepatocytes and in a mouse model of fatty liver disease.Methods: High-fat and high-carbohydrate diet (HFCD)-fed C57BL/6J mice were employed to establish hepatic lipotoxicity in a mouse model. Two doses of Sal A were administered every other day via intraperitoneal injection (20 and 40 mg/kg BW, respectively). After a 10-week intervention, liver injury was detected by immunohistochemical and biochemical analyses. For in vitro studies, we used HepG2, a human hepatoma cell line, and exposed them to palmitic acid to induce lipotoxicity. The protective effects of Sal A on palmitic acid-induced lipotoxicity were examined in Sal A-pretreated HepG2 cells.Results: Sal A treatments attenuated body weight gain, liver injury, and hepatic steatosis in mice exposed to HFCD. Sal A pretreatments ameliorated palmitic acid-induced cell death but did not reverse effects of HFCD- or palmitate-induced activations of JNK, ERK1/2, and PKA. Induction of p38 phosphorylation was significantly reversed by Sal A in HFCD-fed mice but not in palmitate-treated HepG2 cells. However, Sal A rescued hepatic AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) suppression and sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) downregulation by both HFCD feeding in mice and exposure to palmitate in HepG2 cells. Sal A dose-dependently up-regulated p-AMPK and SIRT1 protein levels. Importantly, siRNA silencing of either AMPK or SIRT1 gene expression abolished the protective effects of Sal A on lipotoxicity. Moreover, while AMPK silencing blocked Sal A-induced SIRT1, silencing of SIRT1 had no effect on Sal A-triggered AMPK activation, suggesting SIRT1 upregulation by Sal A is mediated by AMPK activation.Conclusion: Our data uncover a novel mechanism for hepatoprotective effects of Sal A against lipotoxicity both in livers from HFCD-fed mice and palmitic acid-treated hepatocytes.

Background: Salvianolic acid A (Sal A), a natural polyphenolic compound extracted from Radix Salvia miltiorrhiza (Danshen), exhibits exceptional pharmacological activities against cardiovascular diseases. While a few studies have reported anti-obesity properties of Sal A, the underlying mechanisms are largely unknown. Given the prevalence of obesity and promising potential of browning of white adipose tissue to combat obesity, recent research has focused on herbal ingredients that may promote browning and increase energy expenditure.Purpose: The present study was designed to investigate the protective antiobesity mechanisms of Sal A, in part through white adipose browning.Methods: Both high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obese (DIO) male mice model and fully differentiated C3H10T1/2 adipocytes from mouse embryo fibroblasts were employed in this study. Sal A (20 and 40 mg/kg) was administrated to DIO mice by intraperitoneal injection for 13-weeks. Molecular mechanisms mediating effects of Sal A were evaluated.Resluts: Sal A treatment significantly attenuated HFD-induced weight gain and lipid accumulation in epididymal fat pad. Uncoupling protein 1 (UCP-1), a specialized thermogenic protein and marker for white adipocyte browning, was significantly induced by Sal A treatment in both white adipose tissues and cultured adipocytes. Further mechanistic investigations revealed that Sal A robustly reversed HFD-decreased AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) phosphorylation and sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) expression in mice. Genetically silencing either AMPK or SIRT1 using siRNA abolished UCP-1 upregulation by Sal A. AMPK silencing significantly blocked Sal A-increased SIRT1 expression, while SIRT1 silencing did not affect Sal A-upregulated phosphorylated-AMPK. These findings indicate that AMPK was involved in Sal A-increased SIRT1.Conclusion: Sal A increases white adipose tissue browning in HFD-fed male mice and in cultured adipocytes. Thus, Sal is a potential natural therapeutic compound for treating and/or preventing obesity.

Background: Tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC) is one of the most widespread cancers in oral cancer, but the current treatment outcome for TSCC is unsatisfactory. Apigenin has been shown to have antitumor effects in various tumors. However, the potential role of Apigenin (API) in TSCC has not been proven yet. Methods: The effects of API on the proliferation and migration ability of SCC-9 cells were measured by CCK8 assay and wound-healing assay. RNA-seq was executed to ensure differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in SCC-9 cells after API treatment. Then, combined with the gene expression data and relevant individual information of TSCC samples acquired from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), an API-related model was built through Lasso regression and multivariate Cox regression. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and a nomogram and calibration curve were created to forecast patient outcomes to improve the clinical suitability of the API-related signature. The relationships between the two risk groups and function enrichment, immune infiltration characteristics, and drug susceptibility were analyzed. Furthermore, RNA-seq was performed to verify the expression of API-related genes in SCC-9 cells. Results: We demonstrated that API could weaken the malignant behavior of SCC-9 cells and availably established the 7-API-related gene model to forecast the prognosis of TSCC patients, which was performed to divide TSCC patients into different risk groups, with risk scores working as an independent factor for participating TSCC related death. Besides, we confirmed that the model could be applied to assess prognostic status, tumor immune cell infiltration, and drug susceptibility. Moreover, TSCC cells treated with API, compared to the control group, have higher levels of TMEM213 and GPR158, and lower levels of CASP14 and ITGA5. Conclusions: Our research suggested the inhibition effect of API on TSCC cells and provided a substantial foundation for the next study into the links between API-related genes and related functions in TSCC patients.