Protective effect of Asarum sieboldii essential oil on ovalbumin induced allergic rhinitis in rat
Authors: Haoran Kang
Zhicheng Zhang
Journal: Bioscience reports (2020)
Discipline: MOLECULAR BIOLOGY & GENETICS
Keywords: Nasal mucosa; cytokines; histamine; nasal scratching; sneezing.
Affiliations: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou 450000, People's Republic of China.

Abstract:  Background: The study was aimed to investigate the protective effect of Asarum sieboldii Miq. essential oil (AEO) on ovalbumin (OVA)-induced allergic rhinitis (AR) in rats. Methods and results: Sixty Sprague-Dawley male rats were randomly divided into six groups (n=10): control, model, cetirizine (Cet, 4.65 g/kg), and AEO (0.5, 1.5, 3 g/kg) groups. All animals except the control group received repeated intranasal instillation with 20 μl of 20% OVA in Al(OH)3 saline solvent for 15 days. The control group was intranasally instilled with 5 mg/ml of Al(OH)3 instead of the same procedure. In the 15 days, Cet and AEO were orally administrated for 28 days. At the end of the drug administration, 20 μl of 5% OVA was given to animals to stimulate allergic reaction, then the rat behavioral detection, assessment of the patho-morphological changes in nasal mucosa, and the serum biomarkers were determined. The result showed that AEO could significantly reduce the amount of nasal secretions, sneezing, and the degree of nasal scratching in AR rats with EC50 = 1.5 and 2.8 g/kg, respectively. The degree of nasal mucosal inflammation in AEO group improved, the levels of immunoglobulin E (IgE), histamine, IL-4, IL-5, IL-17 were decreased, and the level of IFN-γ was increased obviously with EC50 = 2 g/kg. Conclusion: The study suggested that the possible mechanism might be related with the inhibition of histamine release and regulation of the cytokine levels, which plays an important role in the treatment of AR. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 Below, Figure 12:  Synergistic effect of curcuminoids-CS-NPs administration on hematoxylin and eosin staining in the brain sections of the sham, MCAO, and MCAO u00fecurcuminoids-CS-NPs groups. **(a) Cortical area of sham group animal showed uniform distribution of neurons. Normal neurons with the characteristic conical outlines with no abnormal features are seen.** (b) Tissues around infarcted area in the MCAO group show a focal area of vacuolation and neuronal loss. (c) The MCAO u00fecurcuminoids-CS-NPs group rats show partial neuronal loss. Above, Figure 7 from [Ahmad et al (2017)] .  Effect of safranal mucoadhesive nanoemulsion (SMNE at 10u2009mg kg) administration on haematoxylin and eosin staining in the brain sections of the SHAM, MCAO, Safranal Solution (Saf. Sol.), and safranal mucoadhesive nanoemulsion (SMNE). **A, Cortical area of SHAM-group animal showed uniform distribution of neurons. Normal neurons with the characteristic conical outlines with no abnormal features are seen.** B, Tissues around infarcted area in the MCAO group show a focal area of vacuolation and neuronal loss. C, The MCAOu2009+u2009SMNE group rats show partial neuronal loss. ![file] 7(A) and 12(a) overlap, though not entirely, differing outside the marked zone. How does this happen? , 
 The mystery deepens when comparing Fig 12 *[above]* with *[below]* Fig 10 from [Ahmad et al (2016)] :  Effect of Rutin loaded chitosan nanoparticles (10 mg kg) administration on hematoxylin and eosin staining in the brain sections of the sham, MCAO, and RUTCS-NPs + MCAO groups. (A) Cortical area of sham group animal showed uniform distribution of neurons. Normal neurons with the characteristic conical outlines with no abnormal features are seen. (B) Tissues around infarcted area in the MCAO group show a focal area of vacuolation and neuronal loss. (C) the RUT-CS-NPs + MCAO group rats show partial neuronal loss ![file] 12(a) overlaps with 10A, though not entirely, differing outside the marked zone. This is in addition to the duplicated areas in 12(c) and 10B. , 
 Figure 10,  Comparative SEM (left) and TEM (right) images of (a and **d) Cur-CS-NPs**, (b and e) DMC-CS-NPs, and (c and f) BDMC-CS-NPs . ![file] Figure 2 from [Ahmad et al (2018)] .  Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) ... (B) images of **DTX-loaded-CS-coated-PLGA-NPs**. ![file] The identifications of the image are not compatible. , 
 #3 Here at right, Fig 10(a-c),  Comparative SEM ...images of (a) Cur-CS-NPs, (b) DMC-CS-NPs, and **(c) BDMC-CS-NPs** . (c) appears to match 1(B) from [Ahmad et al (2014)] ,  Comparative SEM images of (A) PNIPAM-CUR, **(B) PNIPAM-DMC** and (C) PNIPAM-BDMC . Here at left. ![file] Marked with blue boxes. ,