Intervention effect of emodin on pancreatic acinar cell apoptosis in severe acute pancreatitis rats

Objective To investigate the intervention effect of emodin on cell apoptosis in severe acute pancreatitis rats. Methods Models were induced by retrograde injection of taurocholic acid into pancreatic duct of rats.Then all the models were randomly divided into 4 groups,including control,low dose(10 mg/kg emodin),middle dose(20 mg/kg emodin) and high dose group(40 mg/kg emodin).Specimens of each group were taken at 3 h,6 h,12 h and 24 h randomly.Serum amylase,serum total calcium and pancreatic histopathologic score were measured.TUNEL (Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling) staining was applied to measure apoptosis and apoptotic index.The protein expressions of Notch-1,Hes-1and Hes-5 were detected by Western blot. Results Compared with the control group,the serum amylase of emodin treatment groups were significantly lower(P<0.01).The serum total calcium levels in each treatment group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P<0.01),The pancreatic histopathologic scores of middle dose group and high dose group were significantly improved compared with control group(P<0.01),especially in high dose group.The apoptosis index of pancreatic cells in each treatment group points was higher than control group at different time,especially in high dose group,but the index was similar between low dose group and control group(P>0.05).The Notch-1 expression of treatment groups were higher than that of control group,and more significant in middle dose group and high dose group(P<0.01).The Hes-1 expression of high dose group was significantly higher than that of control group(P<0.05),low dose group(P<0.05) and middle dose group(P<0.05).The Hes-5 expression of middle dose group and high dose group was significantly higher than that of control group,and the Hes-5 expression of high dose group was significantly higher than that of low dose group(P<0.05). Conclusion Emodin can alleviate pancreatitis by promoting apoptosis of local pancreatic cells when severe acute pancreatitis occurs.Notch-1/Hes signaling pathway is an important pathway for emodin regulating pancreatic acinar cell apoptosis.