Intestinal disorders often co-occur with
inflammation and dysmotility. However, drugs which simultaneously improve intestinal
inflammation and co-occurring dysmotility are rarely reported.
Atractylodin, a widely used herbal medicine, is used to treat digestive disorders. The present study was designed to characterize the effects of
atractylodin on amelioration of both jejunal
inflammation and the co-occurring dysmotility in both
constipation-prominent (CP) and
diarrhea-prominent (DP) rats. The results indicated that
atractylodin reduced proinflammatory
cytokines TNF-α, IL-1β, and
IL-6 in the plasma and inhibited the expression of inflammatory mediators iNOS and
NF-kappa B in jejunal segments in both CP and DP rats. The results indicated that
atractylodin exerted stimulatory effects and inhibitory effects on the contractility of jejunal segments isolated from CP and DP rats respectively, showing a contractile-state-dependent regulation.
Atractylodin-induced contractile-state-dependent regulation was also observed by using rat jejunal segments in low and high contractile states respectively (5 pairs of low/high contractile states).
Atractylodin up-regulated the decreased phosphorylation of 20 kDa
myosin light chain,
protein contents of
myosin light chain kinase (MLCK), and MLCK
mRNA expression in jejunal segments of CP rats and down-regulated those increased parameters in DP rats. Taken together,
atractylodin alleviated rat jejunal
inflammation and exerted contractile-state-dependent regulation on the contractility of jejunal segments isolated from CP and DP rats respectively, suggesting the potential clinical implication for ameliorating intestinal
inflammation and co-occurring dysmotility.