Piperine Plays an Anti-Inflammatory Role inStaphylococcus aureusEndometritis by Inhibiting Activation of NF-κB and MAPK Pathways in Mice

Abstract

Endometritis is commonly caused by pathogenic microorganisms, includingStaphylococcus aureus(S. aureus). Piperine, which is a natural medicine, has shown a variety of biological activities. To explore the effect and mechanism of piperine onS. aureusendometritis, a mouse model ofS. aureusendometritis was successfully established in the present study. Histopathological changes were observed with H&E staining, cytokines were analyzed by ELISA, mRNA was analyzed by qPCR, and proteins were detected by western blot. The results showed that piperine could significantly alleviate inflammatory injury inS. aureusendometritis. The qPCR and ELISA results showed that piperine effectively reduced theS. aureus-induced overexpression of TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 but increased the expression of IL-10. TheS. aureus-induced inflammation was related to TLR-2 and TLR-4 because the results showed that their expression was increased inS. aureusinfection but then decreased with piperine treatment. To further confirm that piperine caused an anti-inflammatory response by targeting NF-κB and MAPKs, the expression of I-κB, p65, p38, ERK, and JNK was measured. The phosphorylation of I-κB, p65, p38, ERK, and JNK was inhibited by piperine in a dose-dependent manner. All of the results indicated that piperine may be a potential anti-inflammatory drug both in endometritis and in otherS. aureus-induced diseases.