Salvianolic acid B ameliorates psoriatic changes in imiquimodinduced psoriasis on BALB/c mice by inhibiting inflammatoryand keratin markers via altering phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase/protein kinase B signaling pathway

摘要

Salvianolic acid B (SAB) is an active phytocomponent of a popular Chinese herb called Radix Salvia militiorrhiza with numerous biological properties. Theanti-psoriasis activity of SAB was examined by evaluating various psoriasis inflammatory and keratin markers against imiquimod (IMQ)-induced psoriasis on BALB/c mice.Totally 50 healthy BALB/c mice were evenly divided into 5 groups including control,drug control (SAB; 40 mg/kg), IMQ-induced psoriasis (5%), IMQ exposure and treatedwith SAB (40 mg/kg), or standard methotrexate (MTX; 1 mg/kg). Mice supplementedwith either SAB or MTX significantly lowered the values of psoriasis area severity index (PASI), erythema, scaling, skin thickness, inflammatory markers (interleukin [IL]-22/23/17A/1β/6) and lipid peroxidation product (malondialdehyde). Also, IMQ exposed BALB/c mice treated with SAB or MTX display lesser histopathological changeswith enhanced antioxidant activities (catalase, superoxide dismutase). Moreover,the protein expression of keratin markers (K16 and K17) and phosphatidylinositol3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt) signaling proteins (pAkt/Akt and pPI3K/PI3K)were significantly downregulated after administration with SAB and MTX as compared with IMQ induced mice. Taking together, SAB and MTX significantly amelioratepsoriatic changes by inhibiting psoriatic inflammatory and keratin markers throughabolishing PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. However, further studies (clinical trials) areneeded to confirm the anti-psoriatic property of SAB before recommending to psoriasis patients.