Intervention and mechanism of Xiaoyin Anshen Yin in treatment of psoriasis combined with sleep disorders.

OBJECTIVE

To explore the therapeutic mechanisms of Xiaoyin Anshen Yin (, XYAS) in treating psoriasis associated with sleep focusing on melatonin and the regulation of the nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) pathway.

METHODS

Forty Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into four groups, and administered distilled water, XYAS and its two different disassembly prescriptions by gavage respectively. Four types of drug-containing serums corresponding to the four groups were then prepared. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α stimulated HaCaT was used to establish a psoriasis cell model, and the serums and the retinoid related orphan receptor alpha (RORα) inverse agonist were used respectively to intervene in the model. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to detect the levels of interleukin (IL)-6 and melatonin in each group; flow cytometry was used to detect the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), mitochondrial membrane potential, and apoptosis; Western blot was used to evaluate the levels of superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2), cytochrome-c (Cyt-c), inhibitor of kappa-B alpha (IκBα), p65 and phosphorylated p65.

RESULTS

XYAS and its disassembly prescriptions inhibited the secretion of inflammatory factors such as IL-6, reduced the ROS content and Cyt-c expression, increased the mitochondrial membrane potential and SOD2 content, promoted the apoptosis in HaCaT cells and inhibited the activation of the NF-κB pathway. XYAS was also found increase the melatonin content. The above effects are beneficial in the treatment of psoriasis combined with sleep disorders. Meanwhile, XYAS no longer had a significant ameliorative effect after applying the RORα inverse agonist, suggesting that the therapeutic effect of XYAS is related to RORα.

CONCLUSIONS

The results of this study confirm that XYAS can be utilized for the treatment of psoriasis combined with sleep disorders via inhibiting the NF-κB pathway, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and pro-apoptotic, which is in part related to the regulatory role of melatonin and its receptor RORα.