프리스탄 유도한 루푸스 생쥐에서 사이토카인 Ex vivo 생산에 미치는 Baicalin의 효과

Effect of Baicalin on the Ex vivo Production of Cytokines in Pristane-Induced Lupus Mice

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is characterized by dysregulatory production of proinflammatory cytokines and helper T (Th) cytokine-dependent autoantibody production. This study aims to investigate the protective effect of baicalin on the dysregulatory production of proinflammatory cytokines and Th cytokines in pristane-induced lupus mice. Mice were received i.p. a single injection of 0.5 ml of pristane, and then, later about 3 months, were used as a pristaneinduced lupus model. The pristane-induced lupus mice were administrated orally with baicalin 50 mg/kg once in a day for 10 days. Immune cells obtained from the pristane-primed lupus control group (lupus control) and baicalin-treated pristaneprimed lupus mouse group (BAC lupus) were cultured for 24 h or 36 h with/without mitogens. These results demonstrated that LPS-induced production of macrophage and splenic TNF-α and Con A-induced production of thymic IFN-γ were attenuated in BAC lupus compared to lupus control, while LPS-stimulated production of macrophage IL-10, Con A-stimulated production of splenic IL-10 and, PGE2-reduced production of splenic IFN-γ enhanced. Therefore, these findings suggest that baicalin may protect from autoimmunity and disease activity in lupus via modulatory effect of proinflammatory cytokine overproduction and Th cytokine imbalance.