The interventional effect of <i>Polygonatum cyrtonema</i> Hua polysaccharide on atherosclerosis in mice of different sexes
An-Jun Guo, Xueying Li, Li‐Hua Pan, Qiang-Ming Li, Jianping Luo, Xue‐Qiang Zha
Abstract
In the present study, we investigated the intervention effects of a purified <i>Polygonatum cyrtonema</i> polysaccharide (PCP) on high-fat diet (HFD)-induced atherosclerosis in male and female LDLr<sup>−/−</sup> mice. Results showed that HFD caused severe dyslipidemia, atherosclerotic lesions, oxidative damages and inflammation in male and female mice, and these effects seemed to be more pronounced in males than in females. However, the above variations could be dose-dependently reversed by PCP treatment, and the intervention effects on males were greater than those on females. NF-κB, MAPKs and Akt are three pivotal signaling pathways mediating the development of atherosclerosis. Consistently, PCP was also found to significantly decrease the phosphorylation of p65, p38, extracellular-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) and Akt, and increase the protein expression of IκB in the aortas of male and female mice induced by HFD. Taken together, these findings indicated that PCP could be effective for the prevention of atherosclerosis, and the intervention effect of PCP on male mice is more obvious than that of female mice.