Effects Of Curcumin On The Dysfunction Of Gastric Emptying Induced By Atropine In Mice

Objective Atropine,an acetylcholine receptor blocker,was used to make a model of gastric emptying disorder in mice.Curcumin was pre-administreated by intragastine to investigate the mechanism in alleviating the gastric emptying disorder of mice.The association paremeters of acetylcholine(ACh),nitric oxide(NO)of mice stomach and the interstitial cells of Cajal(ICCs),which regulate electrical rhythmia of gastric slow waves,were futher detected to explore the mechanisms of curcumin.Methods The total of 36 male Kunming mice weighing 18~20 g were randomly divided into control group,curcumin group,atropine group,atropine + curcumin group.There is 9mice in each group.Curcumin(0.2 ml,200 mg/kg/d)was given by intragastric administreation to the mice for a total of 15 days in curcumin group and atropine +curcumin group.The mice in other groups were given the same amount of solvent solution as control.After the ending of experiment,the mice were fasted for 24 hours with free drinking of water.Before the 40 minutes of sacrificed,the mice in atropine group and curcumin + atropine group were injected of atropine(0.5 mg/kg)by abdominal cavity at one time.The saline was injected by abdominal cavity as control to mice in other groups.After 20 minutes of the intraperitoneal injection,the mice were given 0.8 ml methylene blue suspension by administreating,and then the gastric emptying rate of mice was measured 20 minutes later.The activity of acetylcholinesterase(ACh E),the content of NO,the activity of total nitric oxide synthase(TNOS)and the activity of inducible nitric oxide synthase(i NOS)in mice stomachs were detected indiviadually.The relative quantity of m RNA including ACh E,acetylcholine receptor(ACh R),tyrosine kinase receptor(c-kit)and stem cell factor(SCF)were detected by real time RT-PCR.The expression of ACh E at protein level was detected by Western blotting.The data were expressed as the mean±SD,and the SPSS17.0 software was used for statistical processing.Analysis of differences between multiple groups of data were performed with one-way ANOVA followed by the normal distribution and homogeneity of variance.For comparison between two data sets,a paired or unpaired Student's t-test was used.Differences were considered to be significant when a P value was less than 0.05.Results The rate of mice gastric emptying in atropine group(37.77±8.12)was significantly lower(P<0.01)than that in control group(68.94±10.96).At mean time,the activity of ACh E in the atropine group(0.77±0.14)was significantly lower(P<0.01)than that in the control group(0.49±0.15).The m RNA(0.58±0.12)and protein(0.57±0.16)expression of ACh E in atropine group were also significantly lower(P<0.01)than that in control group(1.00±0.15,1.05±0.21).The m RNA of ACh R was futher detected,it was lower(P<0.05)in atropine group(0.74 ±0.21)than that in control group(1.00±0.20).Moreover,the expression of c-kit(0.54±0.07)and SCF(0.58±0.17)m RNA in atropine group was significantly lower(P<0.01)than that in control group of c-kit(1.00±0.11)and SCF(1.00±0.09).Pre-treating of curcumin significantly improved the gastric emptying rate(63.75±9.08)of mice decreased by atropine group(P<0.01).Compared with atropine group,the activity of ACh E(0.72±0.10),the protein(0.84±0.22)and m RNA(0.82±0.19)of ACh E was significantly improved(P<0.01)in curcumin + atropine group.Furthermore,the expression of ACh R m RNA(0.98±0.25)was also improved(P<0.05),and the expression of c-kit(0.76±0.14)and SCF(0.81±0.22)m RNA was significantly improved(P<0.05)in curcumin + atropine group.There was no significant difference in NO content and TNOS or i NOS activity of gastric tissues in all groups(P>0.05).The above indicators here has no significant difference between the single curcumin group and the control group(P>0.05).Conclusions Besids blocking the binding of ACh and its receptor,atropine also can weak the function of ICCs in stomach,which induce the gastric emptying disorder.Curcumin can alleviate the dysfunction of gastric emptying induced by atropine through promoting the releasing of ACh,improving the expression of ACh R and the function of ICCs in stomach.Significances To provide theoretical basis for the treatment of dysfunction of gastric emptying by curcumin in the future.