Negative regulation of PI3K/AKT/mTOR axis regulates fibroblast proliferation, apoptosis and autophagy play a vital role in triptolide-induced epidural fibrosis reduction

Fibroblasts excessive proliferation was considered as a decisive reason for epidural fibrosis, which was known as a serious complication of lumbar laminectomy. As a traditional Chinese medicine, triptolide (TP) was used to be proved effective in preventing several fibrosis scar formation diseases. However, little is known about the effect of TP on preventing epidural fibrosis and its possible mechanism. Here, we performed in vitro and in vivo experiments to detect the possible mechanism of TP in preventing epidural fibrosis. In vitro, the effect of TP on impacting fibroblasts proliferation activities was detected by CCK-8, cell cycle assay and EdU incorporation assay. Also, the expressions of cell proliferation protein markers and the expressions of p-PI3K, p-AKT, p-mTOR were detect by Western blot. Besides, the effect of TP on inducing fibroblast apoptosis and autophagy was tested by Western blots, flow cytometry, TUNEL staining, Transmission electron microscope (TEM) analysis and LC3 immunofluorescent staining. The results suggested that TP could suppress the activation of PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway. Meanwhile, TP could inhibit fibroblast proliferation and induce fibroblast apoptosis as well as autophagy, which was known as two cellular self-destructions. Furthermore, we speculated the possible molecular pathway, through which that TP could inhibit fibroblast proliferation, induce fibroblast apoptosis and autophagy. We used PI3-kinase activator (740Y-P) to activate the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling. Activation of PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway increase the proliferation of fibroblasts and suppressed the autophagy and apoptosis induced by TP. In vivo, we built epidural fibrosis models in rats and locally applied TP of various concentrations. Hematoxylin-eosin (HE) and Masson's trichrome were used to detect the effect of TP on reducing epidural fibrosis. And the results showed that TP could significantly reduce the surgery-induced epidural fibrosis. In conclusion, the results above shown that TP could reduce epidural fibrosis formation, and the potential mechanism might through inhibiting fibroblast proliferation and stimulating apoptosis and autophagy via suppressing PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway. It might provide a novel thought for reducing surgery-induced epidural fibrosis.