TetrandrineIt is the main active component of Stephania tetrandra, which belongs to the family stephaniaceae. Its chemical structure belongs to dibenzyl isoquinoline compounds. The data show that tetrandrine has a variety of biological activities, and has a good application prospect in the treatment of fibrosis, portal vein and pulmonary hypertension, immune function regulation and tumor prevention and treatment. It is found that tetrandrine has a significant protective effect on the liver, which is mainly reflected in the following three aspects.
1. protective effect on hepatocytes
It was found that tetrandrine promoted the transformation from G1 phase to S phase in a concentration dependent manner, and the DNA content in S phase and the protein content in G1 and G2 cells increased significantly. Different concentrations of calcium ion and ATP had no significant effect on tetrandrine induced hepatocyte proliferation, suggesting that tetrandrine promoted hepatocyte proliferation independent of blocking calcium ion influx
2. anti hepatic fibrosis
Tetrandrine can significantly reduce the degree of CCl4 induced experimental fibrosis in rats, reduce serum ALT and hyaluronic acid, improve liver function, reduce the degree of liver pathological damage, inhibit the formation of extracellular matrix and reduce collagen deposition.
The results suggest that tetrandrine may block the occurrence and development of liver fibrosis through extracellular calcium influx, inhibition of lipid peroxidation, intervention of cytokine expression and reduction of inflammatory reaction.
3. reduce portal hypertension
Portal hypertension is the main clinical manifestation of liver cirrhosis caused by various reasons, which leads to complications such as upper gastrointestinal bleeding and is often the main cause of death in patients with liver cirrhosis. Clinical studies have shown that tetrandrine can significantly reduce portal vein pressure in patients with liver cirrhosis, reduce mean arterial pressure and peripheral resistance in normal rats, but has no significant effect on hemodynamics of abdominal organs and kidneys. Tetrandrine can not only reduce the portal vein of cirrhotic rats, but also significantly increase the content of prostaglandin E2 in gastric mucosa, improve the barrier function of gastric mucosa, and have a preventive and therapeutic effect on portal hypertensive gastropathy.
In conclusion, we can find that tetrandrine can effectively reduce the degree of liver fibrosis, significantly prevent liver cirrhosis, promote hepatocyte proliferation and protect hepatocytes.