The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.
ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Neuropharmacology
Volume 15 - 2024 |
doi: 10.3389/fphar.2024.1436146
Liquiritin Ameliorates Painful Diabetic Neuropathy in SD Rats by Inhibiting NLRP3-MMP-9-mediated Reversal of Aquaporin-4 Polarity in The Glymphatic System
Provisionally accepted- Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, China
Despite advancements in diabetes treatment, the management of Painful Diabetic Neuropathy (PDN) remains challenging. Our previous research indicated a significant correlation between the expression and distribution of Aquaporin-4 (AQP4) in the spinal glymphatic system and PDN. However, the potential role and mechanism of liquiritin in PDN treatment remain uncertain. This study established a rat model of PDN using a combination of low-dose Streptozotocin (STZ) and a high-fat, high-sugar diet. Rats were treated with liquiritin and MCC950 (an NLRP3 inhibitor). We monitored fasting blood glucose, body weight, and mechanical allodynia periodically. The glymphatic system's clearance function was evaluated using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), and changes in proteins including NLRP3, MMP-9, and AQP4 were detected through immunofluorescence and Western blot techniques. The results indicate that after treatment, PDN rats showed improvements in all measured parameters. Consequently, liquiritin may alleviate PDN by modulating AQP4 expression through the NLRP3-MMP-9 pathway.
Keywords: Painful Diabetic neuropathy, Glymphatic system, aquaporin-4, Liquiritin, matrix metalloproteinase-9
Received: 21 May 2024; Accepted: 27 Aug 2024.
Copyright: © 2024 Jia, Yin, Xu, Li, Yan and Lin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Jingyan Lin, Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.