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DOI: 10.1055/s-0029-1185943
© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York
Effects of Baicalin on Chlamydia trachomatis Infection in vitro
Publication History
received April 8, 2009
revised June 15, 2009
accepted June 18, 2009
Publication Date:
27 July 2009 (online)
![](https://www.thieme-connect.de/media/plantamedica/201001/lookinside/thumbnails/10.1055-s-0029-1185943-1.jpg)
Abstract
Baicalin has emerged as a promising agent for the therapy of infectious diseases due to the increasing number of pathogenic microbial strains resistant to several antibiotics. In this study, we investigated the inhibitory activity of baicalin on Chlamydia infection in vitro. We found that baicalin blocked the infection of HeLa cells in vitro when added to the infected cells. In order to shed light on the inhibitory effects of baicalin on the Chlamydia-infected cells, the expression of RFX5 and Chlamydia protease-like activity factor (CPAF) mRNAs and proteins in the Chlamydia-infected cells were examined using Western blot and real-time RT‐PCR analysis. The results demonstrated that RFX5 and CPAF were upregulated and downregulated, respectively, by baicalin. Because CPAF is responsible for degrading RFX5, it is suggested that CPAF is a primary target of baicalin and plays an important role in downregulating RFX5. In conclusion, our findings demonstrated that baicalin can effectively inhibit Chlamydia trachomatis in HeLa cells and therefore can be considered a potential agent for the therapy of infectious diseases caused by C. trachomatis.
Key words
baicalin - Chlamydia trachomatis - RFX5 - CPAF - Scutellaria baicalensis - Lamiaceae
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1 These authors contributed equally to this work.
Dr. Huang Hao
Center of Experimental Medicine
Wuhan First Hospital
Wuhan 430022
People's Republic of China
Phone: + 862 7 85 33 23 65
Email: whhuanghao10@yahoo.com.cn