Abstract

The outcome of systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) is poor due to unclear pathogenesis and unsatisfied therapeutic strategies. Therefore, to understand the pathogenetic mechanism and screen novel drugs are critical for the improvement of the therapeutic efficacy of SIRS. In the present study, to determine the protective mechanism of puerarin on SIRS, Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were intraperitoneally injected with different doses of zymosan-A to generate an experimental SIRS animal model. The peripheral TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-10 levels of SIRS rats were measured using quantitative ELISA assay. Protective effects puerarin on SIRS rats via regulating cytokine levels was subsequently determined. The results showed about 75.0% of SIRS rats died after injection with 1000 mg/kg zymosan-A, whereas only 16.7% of SIRS rats (1000 mg/kg zymosan-A) were found dead after the treatment with 62.5 mg/kg puerarin (P< 0.01 vs SIRS group). 24 h after injection with 750 mg/kg zymosan-A, the peripheral levels of TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-10 were 30.87±6.81 pg/ml, 525.20±92.45 pg/ml and 1.37±0.17 ng/ml, respectively. However, the levels of TNF-α and IL-6 (16.71±3.75 pg/ml and 399.30±77.87 pg/ml, respectively) were significantly lowered (P< 0.01) and IL-10 level (1.95±0.17 ng/ml) was markedly elevated (P< 0.01) after treatment with 62.5 mg/kg puerarin when compared with those in SIRS group. Puerarin conferred protective effects on the SIRS via down-regulating pro-inflammatory TNF-α and IL-6 as well as up-regulating anti-inflammatory IL-10.

Key words: Experimental SIRS, puerarin, protective effects, cytokines.