Effect of Biejiajian Pill on TGF-β_1/smad signal pathway in rats with liver fibrosis

Objective To observe the anti-fibrotic mechanism of Biejiajian Pill.Methods SD rats were randomly divided into six groups:control,model,colchicina(0.1 mg/kg,positive),Biejiajian Pill(0.55,1.1,and 2.2 g/kg) groups.Except for the control group,the rats in the other groups were sc injected with 40% CCl4 olive oil solution twice a week for consecutive six weeks to establish the models of liver fibrosis..At the same time,drugs were ig administrated at a volume of 10 mL/kg in each group,once daily for consecutive 11 weeks.At the end of the week 11,all rats were sacrificed.The immunohistochemical technique was applied to analyzing the expression of α-smooth muscle actin(α-SMA) in liver tissue,RT-PCR was applied to analyzing the expression of transforming growth factor-β1(TGF-β1) protein and smad 3 gene in liver tissue.Results Compared with the control group,the expression levels of α-SMA,TGF-β1,and smad 3 gene increased significantly(P 0.05) in the model group.Compared with the model group,Biejiajian Pill and colchicina decreased the expression of α-SMA,TGF-β1 and smad 3 gene,the efficacy of high-dose Biejiajian Pill group was more significantly.Conclusion The antifibrotic mechanism of Biejiajian Pill may be through lowing the TGF-β1/smad 3 signaling pathways and inhibiting hepatic stellate cells activation and proliferation.