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A boswellic acid-containing extract attenuates hepatic granuloma in C57BL/6 mice infected with Schistosoma japonicum

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Abstract

Granuloma formation has been shown to be induced and elicited by schistosome egg antigens, and it finally develops into fibrosis in intestine and the liver. Hepatic fibrosis is the main cause of increased morbidity and mortality in humans infected with schistosomes. Boswellic acid (BA)-containing extracts such as extracts of the oleogum resin from Boswellia serrata (BSE) have anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory activity. However, little is known about the role of such extracts in schistosome egg-induced granulomatous inflammation. In order to investigate the effect of a watersoluble cyclodextrin complex preparation of BSE (BSE-CD) on Schistosoma japonicum (S. japonicum) egg-induced liver granuloma, mice infected with S. japonicum cercariae were injected with BSE-CD during egg granuloma formation. The data showed that BSE-CD significantly reduced the size of liver granuloma and levels of serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST); however, BSE-CD treatment had no effect on worm load and egg burden. The data also showed that BSE-CD significantly decreased the expression of leukotriene B4 (LTB4) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), as well as the expression of matrix metallopeptidase 9 (MMP-9) in liver both on the mRNA and protein level. Thus, BSE-CD can significantly attenuate S. japonicum egg-induced hepatic granuloma, which may be partly dependent on the downregulation of some biochemical mediators.

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Acknowledgments

This work is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (#30901251).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Parasitology, Anhui Medical University, No. 81, Meishan Road, Hefei, Anhui, 230032, People’s Republic of China

    Miao Liu, Shengjian Dong, Cuiping Ren, Yuxia Zhang, Xin Hou & Jijia Shen

  2. Department of Immunology, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, 230032, People’s Republic of China

    Miao Liu

  3. College of Clinical Medical Sciences, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, 230032, People’s Republic of China

    Peng Chen

  4. Institute of Pharmacology of Natural Products & Clinical Pharmacology, Ulm University, Helmholtzstr. 20, 89081, Ulm, Germany

    Berthold Büchele & Thomas Simmet

  5. Integrated Laboratory, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, 230032, People’s Republic of China

    Dake Huang

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  1. Miao Liu
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Correspondence to Thomas Simmet or Jijia Shen.

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Liu, M., Chen, P., Büchele, B. et al. A boswellic acid-containing extract attenuates hepatic granuloma in C57BL/6 mice infected with Schistosoma japonicum . Parasitol Res 112, 1105–1111 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-012-3237-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-012-3237-7

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