sapogenins and Aortic-Aneurysm--Abdominal

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a degenerative disease affecting human health, but there are no safe and effective medications for AAA therapy. Cycloastragenol (CAG), derived from Astragali Radix, has various pharmacological effects. However, whether CAG can protect against AAA remains elusive. In this study, we investigated whether CAG has an inhibitory effect on AAA and its related mechanism.. The AAA mouse model was induced by incubating the abdominal aorta with elastase. CAG was administered by gavage at different doses beginning on the same day or 14 days after inducing AAA to explore its preventive or therapeutic effects respectively. The preventive effects of CAG on AAA were verified in another AAA mouse model induced by angiotensin II in ApoE. CAG presents protective effects against AAA through down-regulation of the MAPK signalling pathways and thus attenuates inflammation, oxidation, VSMC phenotype switch and apoptosis and the expression of MMPs as well as increasing elastin biosynthesis.

Topics: Administration, Oral; Angiotensin II; Animals; Aortic Aneurysm, Abdominal; Apolipoproteins E; Cell Survival; Cells, Cultured; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Drugs, Chinese Herbal; Inflammation; Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Mice, Knockout; Molecular Conformation; Oxidative Stress; Pancreatic Elastase; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Sapogenins; Signal Transduction