Protective role of fruits of Rosa odorata var. gigantea against WIRS-induced gastric mucosal injury in rats by modulating pathway related to inflammation, oxidative stress and apoptosis

Xinnan Liu; Zhen Yuan; Lifei Luo; Teng Wang; Feng Zhao; Jingze Zhang; Dailin Liu

doi:10.1016/j.chmed.2023.10.006

Protective role of fruits of Rosa odorata var. gigantea against WIRS-induced gastric mucosal injury in rats by modulating pathway related to inflammation, oxidative stress and apoptosis

Chin Herb Med. 2024 Feb 29;16(2):263-273. doi: 10.1016/j.chmed.2023.10.006. eCollection 2024 Apr.

Authors

Xinnan Liu¹, Zhen Yuan^{2

3}, Lifei Luo², Teng Wang^{1

2}, Feng Zhao³, Jingze Zhang^{1

2}, Dailin Liu^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ National Key Laboratory of Chinese Medicine Modernization, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 301617, China.
² Tianjin Modern Innovation Chinese Medicine Technology Co., Ltd., Tianjin 300380, China.
³ School of Pharmacy, Key Laboratory of Molecular Pharmacology and Drug Evaluation, Ministry of Education, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Drug Delivery System and Biotech Drugs in Universities of Shandong, Yantai University, Yantai 264005, China.

Abstract

Objective: Rosa odorata var. gigantea is a popular medicinal plant. Some studies have demonstrated that ethanolic extract of the fruits of R. odorata var. gigantea (FOE) has gastroprotective properties. The aim of this study was to investigate the gastroprotective activity of FOE on water immersion restrained stress (WIRS)-induced gastric mucosal injury in a rat model and elucidate the possible molecular mechanisms involved.

Methods: A rat stress ulcer model was established in this study using WIRS. After rats were treated with FOE orally for 7 d, the effect of FOE treatment was analyzed by hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining, and the changes of inflammatory factors, oxidative stress factors, and gastric-specific regulatory factors and pepsin in the blood and gastric tissues of rats were examined by ELISA assay. Molecular mechanism of FOE was investigated by immunohistochemical assay and Western blot.

Results: Compared with the WIRS group, FOE could diminish both the macroscopic and microscopic pathological morphology of gastric mucosa. FOE significantly preserved the antioxidants glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) contents; anti-inflammatory cytokines interleukin-10 (IL-10) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) levels as well as regulatory factors tumor necrosis factor-α (TGF-α) and somatostatin (SS) contents, while decreasing malondialdehyde (MDA), nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), gastrin (GAS) and endothelin (ET) levels. Moreover, FOE distinctly upregulated the expression of Nrf2, HO-1, Bcl2 and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA). In addition, FOE activated the expression of p-EGFR and downregulated the expression of NF-κB, Bax, Cleaved-caspase-3, Cyto-C and Cleaved-PARP1, thus promoting gastric mucosal cell survival.

Conclusion: The current work demonstrated that FOE exerted a gastroprotective activity against gastric mucosal injury induced by WIRS. The underlying mechanism might be associated with the improvement of anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidation and anti-apoptosis systems.

Keywords: Rosa odorata Sweet var. gigantea (Coll. et Hemsl.) Rehd. et Wils; anti-apoptosis; anti-inflammation; anti-oxidation; gastric mucosal injury; water immersion restrained stress.