Anti-arthritis effect of berberine associated with regulating energy metabolism of macrophages through AMPK/ HIF-1 α pathway.

Anti-arthritis effect of berberine associated with regulating energy metabolism of macrophages through AMPK/ HIF-1α pathway. Int Immunopharmacol. 2020 Jul 29;87:106830 Authors: Yu Y, Cai W, Zhou J, Lu H, Wang Y, Song Y, He R, Pei F, Wang X, Zhang R, Liu H, Wei F Abstract Berberine (BBR) is the effective constituent of Cortex phellodendri and was characterized as an excellent anti-microbial agent with significant anti-inflammatory effects. Previously, we had demonstrated that BBR alleviated the inflammatory response in adjuvant-induced arthritis (AA) rats by regulating polarization of macrophages. However, the exact mechanics by which BBR regulates macrophage polarization remained unclear. Here, we showed that BBR treatment had little influence on total number of macrophages in joints of AA rats, but increased the proportion of M2 macrophages and decreased the proportion of M1 macrophages. Meanwhile, we found BBR up-regulated the expression of AMP-activated protein kinase phosphorylation (p-AMPK) and down-regulated the expression of Hypoxia inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α) in synovial macrophages of AA rats. In vitro, using LPS-stimulated peritoneal macrophages from normal rats, we also verified that pretreatment with BBR promoted transition from M1 to M2 by up-regulating the expression of p-AMPK and suppressing the expression of HIF-1α. Compound C (an AMPK inhibitor) could abrogate the inhibition of BBR on migration of macrophages. G...
Source: International Immunopharmacology - Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: Tags: Int Immunopharmacol Source Type: research