• Yan He, Xiaoming Yuan, Hao Zuo, Ying Sun, and Aiwen Feng.
• Department of Oncology Radiotherapy, Huai'an First Hospital, the Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Huai'an, China.
• Cell. Physiol. Biochem. 2018 Jan 1; 49 (4): 1342-1351.

Background/AimsThe gut-vascular barrier (GVB) has recently been depicted to dampen the bacterial invasion of the bloodstream. The intestinal mucosa is a tissue rich in small vessels including capillaries. In this study, the protective effect of berberine on GVB in small bowel mucosa was investigated.MethodsThe rat cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) sepsis model was employed to evaluate the effect of berberine on serum endotoxin level and intestinal vascular permeability to Evans blue in vivo. The rat intestinal microvascular endothelial cells (RIMECs) treated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) were used to assess the effect of berberine on endothelial permeability to FITC-labeled dextran, transendothelial electrical resistance (TEER), and tight junction (TJ) and adherens junction (AJ) expression in vitro.ResultsAfter 24-hr CLP operation the serum endotoxin concentration and gut vascular permeability were significantly increased, while berberine markedly reduced endotoxin level and vascular leakage. In vitro, LPS not only dramatically increased endothelial permeability of RIMECs to FITC-dextran, but also decreased TEER and inhibited claudin-12, beta-catenin and VE-cadherin expression. These effects of LPS were antagonized by berberine. In addition, our in vivo and vitro studies also confirmed that the effect of berberine on GVB could be partially abolished by ICG001.ConclusionBerberine exerted a protective effect on GVB function in sepsis, which was strictly related to the modulation of the Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway.© 2018 The Author(s). Published by S. Karger AG, Basel.

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