| Objective To investigate the effects of Qingnaozhitong capsules (QNZT) on nuclear factor-κB/inducible nitric oxide synthase/cyclooxygenase 2 (NF-κB/iNOS/COX2) signal pathway and pain sensitivity in migraine rats.Methods Healthy male SPF Wistarrats provided by experimental animal Center of Jilin University were randomly assigned into 6 groups: blank group (NC group), modelgroup (M group), positive drug Zhengtian pill group (ZTW group), low (QNZT-L group), medium (QNZT-M group), high (QNZT-H group) dose QNZT groups. Seven days after administration, the migraine model was established by subcutaneous injection of nitroglycerin, the changes of behavioral response and pain threshold, the expressions of nitric oxide (NO) and 5-hydroxyserotonin (5-HT) and the NF-κB p65, iNOS and COX 2 protein expressions were observed. The study was carried out from February 2019 to June 2019.Results Compared with NC group, the behavioral score, the pain threshold, the contents of NO in brain tissue [(3.97±0.48)mol/L,(1.83±0.27)mol/L, (2.91±0.25)mol/L, (1.85±0.18)mol/L, (1.79±0.22)mol/L vs (1.42±0.21)mol/L], the protein expressions of NF-κB p65 [(0.87± 0.15), (0.21±0.04), (0.76±0.09), (0.14±0.03), (0.15±0.04) vs (0.12±0.02)], iNOS [(0.62±0.07), (0.19±0.02), (0.54±0.06), (0.16±0.03), (0.16±0.04) vs (0.14±0.02)] and COX2 [(0.65±0.08), (0.21±0.04),(0.52±0.07),(0.17±0.03), (0.17±0.04) vs (0.15±0.03)] of rats in M group, ZTW group, QNZT-L, QNZT-M and QNZT-H groups increased (P<0.05), and the contents of 5-HT [(3.12±0.69)ng/mg,(4.73± 0.76)ng/mg, (3.95±0.71)ng/mg, (4.81±0.82)ng/mg, (4.86±0.84)ng/mg vs (5.84±0.95)ng/mg]in brain tissue decreased(P<0.05). Comparedwith M group, the behavioral score, the pain threshold, the content of NO in brain tissue, the protein expressions of NF-κB p65, iNOS and COX2 of the rats in ZTW group, QNZT-L, QNZT-M and QNZT-H groups decreased (P<0.05), while the content of 5-HT in brain tissue increased (P<0.05). The above indexes of QNZT-M and QNZT-H group were better than those of QNZT-L group (P<0.05), yet there was no significant difference between QNZT-M and QNZT-H groups (P>0.05).Conclusion QNZT can reduce the NO level, increase the 5-HT level, alleviate the clinical symptoms of migraine rats, increase their pain threshold, and become dose-dependent within a certain dose range, which may be achieved by inhibiting the activation of NF-κB/iNOS/COX2 signaling pathway. |
