Gentiopicroside attenuates collagen-induced arthritis in mice via modulating the CD147/p38/NF-κB pathway

Gentiopicroside (GEN) is a secoiridoid glycosides isolated from a traditional Chinese medicine Gentiana macrophylla Pall.. It exhibits potential activities in the treatment of inflammatory diseases. Here, we investigated whether GEN had the anti-rheumatoid arthritic activities in a model of rheumatoid arthritis, and explored its molecular mechanism. In vivo, the male C57BL/6J mice were injected chicken type II collagen to induce the animal model (collagen-induced arthritis, CIA). In vitro, we performed the research in rheumatoid fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS). In our study, it was innovatively authenticated that GEN treatment could not only reduce synovitis and inhibit the proliferation of RA FLS, but also relieve cartilage damage in CIA modal. More importantly, we firstly demonstrated that GEN treatment lessened the pain behaviors of CIA mice. In vivo and in vitro experiments confirmed that CD147 was the main target of GEN in attenuating RA symptoms for the first time. Next, we identified the downstream signaling pathway of CD147, and proved that the anti-RA effects of GEN were mediated by down-regulating the expression of p38, IκBα and p65 in vivo and in vitro assays. In conclusion, the data of this manuscript suggested that GEN treatment attenuated synovitis and cartilage destruction in CIA mice; the inhibitory effects on MMP secretion and the anti-rheumatic effects of GEN might be regulated by the CD147/p38/ NF-κB pathway. Accordingly, we found that GEN has the potential therapeutic effects for RA.