Research Article

Acidic Polysaccharide from Angelica sinensis Reverses Anemia of Chronic Disease Involving the Suppression of Inflammatory Hepcidin and NF-κB Activation

Figure 4

ASP suppresses hepcidin expression through blocking JAK2/STAT3 and BMP/SMAD signaling. ACD rats were treated with either water (ACD), ASP (0.5 g/kg (ASP1); 1 g/kg (ASP2)), recombinant human erythropoietin (2000 U/kg, ESA), Diclofenac sodium alone (5 mg/kg, DF), or in combination with rhEPO (DF/ESA) over 28 days. (a) Serum hepcidin levels were determined by ELISA. Values are reported as means ± SEM ( per group). (b) HepG2 cells were stimulated with 50 ng/mL BMP6 in the presence or absence of ASP (200 μg/mL) and LDN-193189 (1 μM) for 24 hours. P-SMAD1/5/8 expression was analyzed by Western blotting. The hepcidin mRNA levels were quantified by qRT-PCR. (c) Immunoblots of protein expressions of p-JAK2, p-STAT3, STAT3, SOCS3, BMP6, p-SMAD1/5/8, SMAD4, Id1, and hepcidin in the livers of ACD rats. β-Actin served as the loading control. One representative blot of 3 independent experiments is shown. #, ## versus control. , versus ACD.
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