Paeoniflorin Improves Gastric Emptying Delay in Rats with Functional Dyspepsia

The objective was to explore the effect of paeoniflorin on rats with functional dyspepsia (FD). A total of 36 Sprague Dawley male rats were randomized into 6 groups (n = 6): the control group (Normal), model group (FD), paeoniflorin low-dose group(PF-L), paeoniflorin median-dose group (PF-M), paeoniflorin high-dose group (PF-H), and positive control group (Mosapride). The clasp rat's tail method was prepared for the established FD rat model. Phenol red content mensuration was used to detect the gastric emptying rate and intestinal propulsion in each group of rats; H&E staining was used to observe the pathological changes of gastric antrum in rats; TUNEL was used to analyze the apoptosis in gastric antrum. Transmission electron microscope was used to observe the ultrastructure of antral interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC); Western blot was applied to detect the expression of c-kit, Bax, Bcl-2 and cleaved caspase-3 in the gastric antrum. Compared with the normal group, the empty rate of gastric and intestinal propulsion rate were significantly decreased (p < 0.05), the protein levels of c-kit, Bcl-2 in gastric antrum were significantly decreased and the protein levels of Bax and cleaved caspase-3 were significantly increased in FD group (p < 0.05). As the same time, the apoptosis in gastric antrum was also increased in FD group compared with the normal group (p < 0.05). Paeoniflorin could improve gastric emptying delay on rats with FD.