Purpose: To investigate the effect of oxymatrine on periodontitis in rats and related mechanism. Methods: Ninety SD rats were divided into control, model, 10, 20 and 40 mg/kg oxymatrine and tinidazole groups. The periodontitis model was established in later 5 groups. The 10, 20 and 40 mg/kg oxymatrine groups were intragastrically administrated with 10, 20 and 40 mg/ kg oxymatrine, respectively. The tinidazole group was intragastrically administrated with 100 mg/kg tinidazole. The treatment duration was 4 weeks. The tooth mobility, gingival and plaque indexes, serum inflammatory factor levels and gingival tissue matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase (TIMP) protein levels were detected. Results: After treatment, compared with model group, in 40 mg/kg oxymatrine group the rat general conditions were obviously improved, the tooth mobility, gingival index and plaque index were significantly decreased (P<0.05), the serum tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-1β and prostaglandin E 2 levels were significantly decreased (P<0.05), the MMP-2 and MMP-9 protein levels were significantly decreased (P<0.05), and the TIMP-2 protein level was significantly increased (P<0.05). Conclusions: Oxymatrine can alleviate the experimental periodontitis in rats. The mechanism may be related to its inhibiting inflammatory factor secretion and regulating MMPs/TIMP protein expression.

This study investigated the extraction of matrine from Vietnamese sophora root and its in vitro and in vivo inhibitory effects on oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) cells. Matrine was extracted from Vietnamese sophora root using microwave-assisted extraction technology and purified using macroporous adsorption resin. Human OSCC Tca8113 cells were treated with matrine with concentration of 0, 0.5, 1, 2, 4 and 8 g/L. The proliferation and apoptosis of cells were detected. OSCC cells were transplanted in the nude mice, and then the nude mice were treated with normal saline, cyclophosphamide (CTX) (20 mg·kg -1 ) and matrine (100 mg·kg -1 ), respectively. The optimized extraction parameters of matrine were obtained. The in vitro experiments showed that, matrine inhibit the proliferation of Tca8113 cells and induced the cell apoptosis. The in vivo experiments found that, the tumor inhibition rate of matrine was basically equivalent to that of CTX. On addition, compared with CTX, matrine had no obvious toxic side effect on the liver and kidney function of nude mice. These results indicate that, matrine has obvious in vitro and in vivo inhibitory effects on OSCC cells, with no obvious toxic side effect on the liver and kidney function.Keywords: extraction; matrine; oral squamous cell carcinoma. Practical Application: Matrine can be extracted from Vietnamese sophora root, and may be used to treat oral squamous cell carcinoma.