The Influence Of Extracted Coptis And Extracted Scutellaria On The Apoptosis Of Mice Thymocyte

The effect of extracted coptis and extracted scutellaria on dexamethasone (DEXM) induced thymocyte apoptosis in mice were observed by morphological methods , TUNEL method and DNA agarose electrophoresis. The different morphology of thymocyte in different groups were observed bylight microscope and electron microscope. The thymocyte of negative group were round, ellipitical, and medium size. Nucleus was stained purplish-blue. The thymocyte of positive group had decreased obviously. The apoptotic body had been phagocytosed by macrophages. The chromatin were condensed and this give the nuclear half-moon shape.The amount of thymocyte in extracted coptis group were less than negative group. The size of the cell shrank. Nuclear chromatin were condensed, but could not detected the typical character of apoptosis. The thymocyte in extracted scutellaria were observed typical apoptosis. Apoptotic bodies and its phagocytosed by macrophages were frequently observed.Light microscope observation showed that the TUNEL positive cellswere yellow. The positive cells were higher in the positive group and the extracted coptis group than those in the negative group and the extracted scutellaria group. The apoptosis index in the former groups were 0.30+ 0.10, 0.39+ 0.10 ,respectively. A few TUNEL positive cells were detected in negative group and the extracted coptis group,and the apoptosis index were only 0.02+ 0.004 and 0.01+ 0.004.The results showed that the extracted scutellaria could promote the thymocyte apoptosis which induced by DEXM, but the extracted coptis could inhibit the apoptosis of thymocyte in mice.