Effect of Huanglian Jiedu Decoction on the Expression of Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein-1 and Its Specific Receptor CCR2 mRNA in Rats with Atherosclerosis

Objective To investigate the effect of Huanglian Jiedu Decoction(HJD) on the expression of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1(MCP-1) and its specific receptor CCR2 mRNA in rats with atherosclerosis(AS).Methods SD rats were randomized into normal control group,model group,atorvastatin(1.8 mg·kg-1·d-1) group,and low-,moderate-and high-dosage HJD(in the dosages of 2.7,5.3 and 10.6 g·kg-1·d-1,respectively) groups.Rats except for the normal group were given high-fat diet to induce AS.In the 6th week of modeling,the rats were given the corresponding medicine according to the experimental design for 4 continuous weeks.The expression of MCP-1/CCR2 mRNA in rats aorta was detected by the method of real-time fluorescent quantitative polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR).Results Compared with the normal control group,the expression of aortic MCP-1/CCR2 mRNA was increased in the model group(P0.05 or P0.01).The expression of aortic MCP-1/CCR2 mRNA was significantly lower in HJD groups than that in the model group(P0.05 or P0.01),in a dose-dependent manner.The expression of MCP-1 was positively correlated with CCR2 mRNA expression.Conclusion The therapeutic mechanism of HJD for AS is probably related with the down-regulation of aortic MCP-1/CCR2 mRNA.