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Curcumin alleviates lipopolysaccharides-induced inflammation and apoptosis in vascular smooth muscle cells via inhibition of the NF-κB and JNK signaling pathways

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Abstract

Curcumin plays an important role in inflammation regulation. This study aimed to investigate the effect of curcumin on vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) inflammation induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and its mechanism. VSMCs were treated with different concentrations of curcumin (0, 50, 100 and 150 μg/mL). MTT assay and flow cytometry were used to analyze the effects of curcumin on LPS-induced VSMCs viability and apoptosis. The expression and release of inflammatory cytokines in VSMCs were detected by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Moreover, the proteins expressions of NF-κB and JNK signaling pathways were analyzed by western blot. Interestingly, the results showed that curcumin could reduce LPS induced inflammatory injury by increasing VSMC’s viability, reducing apoptosis and inhibiting the release of inflammatory cytokines. In addition, curcumin increased the expression of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) in LPS treated VSMCs. Mechanistically, we found that curcumin attenuated LPS-induced cell damage in VSMCs via inhibition of NF-κB and the JNK signal pathway. Curcumin can protect VSMCs from LPS induced inflammatory damage, which may be related to the blocking of NF-κB and the JNK signaling pathway. Herewith, curcumin could be potential therapeutics for the treatment of atherosclerosis.

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Funding

This work has funded by key R & D project of Jiangxi Provincial Department of science and technology (No. 20161bg70078).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cardiology, Jiangxi Provincial People’s Hospital, Nanchang, 330000, Jiangxi, People’s Republic of China

    Haohang Ruan, Qing Huang & Ming Yang

  2. School of Software and Internet of Things Engineering, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, Nanchang, Jiangxi, People’s Republic of China

    Benting Wan

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  1. Haohang Ruan
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  2. Qing Huang
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  3. Benting Wan
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  4. Ming Yang
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Contributions

HR designed, resources and performed the experiments. QH provided support for data analysis and writing the manuscript and BW and MY provided, resources, discussion, design and peer review process. All the authors have seen and approved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Haohang Ruan.

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Ruan, H., Huang, Q., Wan, B. et al. Curcumin alleviates lipopolysaccharides-induced inflammation and apoptosis in vascular smooth muscle cells via inhibition of the NF-κB and JNK signaling pathways. Inflammopharmacol 30, 517–525 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10787-021-00912-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10787-021-00912-w

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