Dendrobium catenatum Lindl. Water Extracts Attenuate Atherosclerosis

Abstract

Objectives. Dendrobium catenatum Lindl. (DH) is a Chinese herbal medicine, which is often used to make tea to improve immunity in China. Rumor has it that DH has a protective effect against cardiovascular disease. However, it is not clear how DH can prevent cardiovascular disease, such as atherosclerosis (AS). Therefore, the purpose of this study is to study whether DH can prevent AS and the underlying mechanisms. Methods. Zebrafish larvae were fed with high-cholesterol diet (HCD) to establish a zebrafish AS model. Then, we used DH water extracts (DHWE) to pretreat AS zebrafish. The plaque formation was detected by HE, EVG, and oil red O staining. Neutrophil and macrophage counts were calculated to evaluate the inflammation level. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) activity, malondialdehyde (MDA) content, and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity in zebrafish were measured to reflect oxidative stress. The cholesterol accumulation and the levels of lipid, triglyceride (TG), and total cholesterol (TC) were measured to reflect lipid metabolism disorder. Then, parallel flow chamber was utilized to establish a low shear stress- (LSS-) induced endothelial cell (EC) dysfunction model. EA.hy926 cells were exposed to LSS (3 dyn/cm2) for 30 min and treated with DHWE. The levels of ROS, SOD, MDA, glutathione (GSH), and glutathiol (GSSG) in EA.hy926 cells were analysed to determine oxidative stress. The release of nitric oxide (NO), endothelin-1 (ET-1), and epoprostenol (PGI2) in EA.hy926 cells was measured to reflect EC dysfunction. The mRNA expression of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) in EA.hy926 cells was detected to reflect EC dysfunction inflammation. Results. The results showed that DHWE significantly reduced cholesterol accumulation and macrophage infiltration in early AS. Finally, DHWE significantly alleviate the lipid metabolism disorder, oxidative stress, and inflammation to reduce the plaque formation of AS zebrafish larval model. Meanwhile, we also found that DHWE significantly improved LSS-induced EC dysfunction and oxidative stress in vitro. Conclusion. Our results indicate that DHWE could be used as a prevention method to prevent AS.

Radical oxygen species: an important breakthrough point for botanical drugs to regulate oxidative stress and treat the disorder of glycolipid metabolism

“…In vivo and in vitro experiments of botanical drugs for the treatment of NAFLD have shown that berberine can control the release of inflammatory factors through ROS/NLRP3, improve the inflammation of NAFLD, protect hepatocytes, and slow the progression of the disease (Mai et al, 2020). In AS, Morinda citrifolia (Ishibashi et al, 2017), Echinodorus grandiflorus (Gasparotto et al, 2019), Dendrobium huoshanense (Fan et al, 2020), and Dendrobium officinale (Han et al, 2021) also play an antioxidant and antiinflammatory role.…”

Anti-inflammatory and memory-enhancing properties of Chinese herbal extracts: The possible application in Alzheimer’s disease

“…D. catenatum appears to be safe, indicated with acute toxicity test (12.0 g/kg), genetic toxicity test (Ames test; 1000, 2000, and 4000 mg/kg), and feeding test for 90 days with 1.08, 1.67, and 5.00 g/kg in rats [ 46 ]. Previous studies reported that D. catenatum has anti-inflammation [ 47 , 48 ], anti-aging [ 49 ], and antioxidation[ 50 ] effects. D. catenatum treatment could also attenuate ERK, p38 MAPK, and NF-κB signaling pathways in the lung of a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease rat model [ 51 ].…”