【Animal modeling】-Effect of Xiaoaiping injection on pathological morphology and migration of liver cancer cells in primary liver cancer model rats and its mechanism of action

  Objective: To investigate the effect of Xiaoaiping injection on the pathological injury of liver tissue in rats with intermittent intraperitoneal injection of diethylnitrosamine to replicate hepatocellular carcinoma and its effect and mechanism on the migration of hepatocellular carcinoma cells in hypoxic tumor microenvironment.

  Methods: A total of 60 SD rats were selected and randomly divided into a model group of 48 and a normal control group of 12. The model group was given intermittent intraperitoneal injection of diethylnitrosamine to establish a liver cancer model, and the normal control group was intraperitoneally injected with the same amount of normal saline. After 14 weeks, the model group was randomly divided into three groups, two groups were intraperitoneally injected with low dose and high dose of Xiaoaiping injection respectively, one group and normal control group were intraperitoneally injected with the same amount of normal saline, 5 days a week, for 4 consecutive days. week. Specimens were collected at the 19th week, and the histopathological changes of the rat liver were detected. The effect of Xiaoaiping injection on the migration of SMMC-7721 and HepG2 in liver cancer cells was observed by scratch healing experiment under the hypoxic environment induced by CoCl2, and the effect of Xiaoaiping on the expression of IL-6 mRNA in liver cancer cells was also detected.

  Results: Compared with the normal control group, the liver tissue of the model group showed obvious liver cancer-like changes, indicating that the liver cancer model was successfully replicated. After treatment, compared with the model group, the low-dose and high-dose Xiaoaiping groups reduced the pathological damage of the liver tissue of the rats; Xiaoaiping injection could significantly inhibit the migration of HepG2 cells and inhibit the expression of IL-6 mRNA in the hypoxic environment. At the same concentration, it can only inhibit the migration of SMMC-7721 cells, and it has a trend of inhibiting the expression of IL-6 mRNA, but the difference is not statistically significant.

  Conclusion: Xiaoaiping injection can reduce the pathological damage of liver tissue in rats with primary liver cancer induced by intermittent intraperitoneal injection of diethylnitrosamine, and inhibit the migration of SMMC-7721 and HepG2 cells under chemically induced hypoxia. The inhibitory effect of IL-6 mRNA is different, and the down-regulation of IL-6 mRNA expression may be one of its mechanisms of inhibiting the migration of liver cancer cells.