Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine ›› 2026, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (1): 22-33.DOI: 10.19852/j.cnki.jtcm.2026.01.003

• Original Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Therapeutic effect and anti-inflammatory mechanism of modified Shoutai pills (改良寿胎丸) against lipopolysaccharide-induced miscarriage in mice

LI Junwei1,2,3,4, LIU Xinyue1,2,3,4, MOU Xuan1,2,3,4, XIE Hongliang1,2,3,4, GAO Yating5, ZHANG Aolin1,2,3,4, HE Tao1,2,3,4, YEUNG Tszching6, TANG Chao7, WU Xiaoke8, FAN Xiaohui1,2,3,4, WANG Chichiu6(), LI Lu1,2,3,4,6()   

  1. 1 College of Pharmaceutical Sciences & Women's Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
    2 State Key Laboratory of Chinese Medicine Modernization, College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
    3 International Science and Technology Cooperation Base of Chinese Medicine Modernization and Big Health, Innovation Center of Yangtze River Delta, Zhejiang University, Jiaxing 314102, China
    4 Modern Chinese Medicine and Reproductive Health Joint Innovation Center, Innovation Center of Yangtze River Delta, Zhejiang University, Jiaxing 314102, China
    5 College of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou 310053, China
    6 Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology; Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Sciences; School of Biomedical Sciences; and Sichuan University-Chinese University of Hong Kong Joint Reproductive Medicine Laboratory, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, China
    7 National Clinical Research Center for Child Health of the Children's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310052, China
    8 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, First Affiliated Hospital, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin 150040, China
  • Accepted:2025-10-30 Online:2026-02-15 Published:2026-01-28
  • Contact: Prof. LI Lu, College of Pharmaceutical Sciences & Women's Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; State Key Laboratory of Chinese Medicine Modernization, College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; International Science and Technology Cooperation Base of Chinese Medicine Modernization and Big Health, Innovation Center of Yangtze River Delta, Zhejiang University, Jiaxing 314102, China; Modern Chinese Medicine and Reproductive Health Joint Innovation Center, Innovation Center of Yangtze River Delta, Zhejiang University, Jiaxing 314102, China; Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology; Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Sciences; School of Biomedical Sciences; and Sichuan University-Chinese University of Hong Kong Joint Reproductive Medicine Laboratory, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, China. luciali@zju.edu.cn; Prof. WANG Chichiu, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology; Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Sciences; School of Biomedical Sciences; and Sichuan University-Chinese University of Hong Kong Joint Reproductive Medicine Laboratory, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, China. ccwang@cuhk.edu.hk; Telephone: +86-571-88208596
  • Supported by:
    ‘Pioneer’ R&D Program of Zhejiang: Research on Key Technologies for the Development of Traditional Chinese Medicine New Drugs(2023C03004);National Key Research and Development Program of China: Mechanism Study and Clinical Exploration of Electroacupuncture Promoting Immune Normalization, Supporting the Body and Inhibiting Cancer, and Synergistic Programmed Death Receptor 1 /Programmed Cell Death Ligand 1 Monoclonal Antibody therapy for Intestinal and Biliary Tumors(2023YFC3504600);Zhejiang Province Traditional Chinese Medicine Science and Technology Project: Clinical Metabolomics Based Discovery of Effective Markers for Nourishing Yin of Radix Ophiopogonis in the Treatment of Gestational Diabetes(GZY-ZJKJ-24076);‘Pioneer’ R&D Program of Zhejiang: Analysis of the Complex System of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Development of New Chinese Medicine Drugs - Analysis of the Complex Cross Organ Action Mode of Traditional Chinese Medicine for Anti-Coronary Heart Disease and Blood Stasis Syndrome and Development of New Drugs(2024C03106);Health and Medicinal Research Fund from Health Burden, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China: Chinese Versus Western Medicine for Threatened Miscarriage: Abridged Secondary Publication(15160971);Transverse Research Project of Zhejiang University: Development of Traditional Chinese Medicine Big Health Formula for Reproductive Health(2023-KYY-A070350007)

Abstract:

OBJECTIVE: To elucidate the anti-inflammatory mechanisms of modified Shoutai pills (改良寿胎丸, MSTP) in miscarriages, we performed transcriptome sequencing on the decidua and placental tissues of pregnancy mice.

METHODS: The therapeutic effects and anti-inflammatory mechanisms of MSTP were studied in mice with lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced miscarriage. First, the effects of MSTP on pregnancy outcomes and the maternal-fetal interface, in LPS-induced miscarriage mice were examined. RNA sequencing was used to further investigate gene expression changes in LPS-induced miscarriage mice and to assess the effects of MSTP intervention. Finally, the expression levels of inflammation-related genes in the decidua and placental tissues were determined using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR).

RESULTS: A high dose of MSTP significantly decreased the resorption rate (P < 0.05) and reduced apoptosis of the decidua and placental tissues in mice. Gene ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analyses showed that inflammatory and immune-related signals were enriched. qRT-PCR results confirmed that in decidual and placental tissues, MSTP reduced the gene expression levels of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB), c-Jun N-terminal kinase 1, p38, and tumor necrosis factor-α.

CONCLUSIONS: In this study, we demonstrated that MSTP effectively prevented embryo loss with an anti-inflammatory mechanism through downregulation of the TLR4-NF-κB/ MAPK signaling pathway, in LPS-induced miscarriage mice model. To our knowledge, this is the first study to reveal the therapeutic mechanism of MSTP in LPS-induced miscarriage in mice.

Key words: abortion, spontaneous, NF-kappa B, toll-like receptor 4, transcriptomics, modified Shoutai pills

Cite this article

LI Junwei, LIU Xinyue, MOU Xuan, XIE Hongliang, GAO Yating, ZHANG Aolin, HE Tao, YEUNG Tszching, TANG Chao, WU Xiaoke, FAN Xiaohui, WANG Chichiu, LI Lu. Therapeutic effect and anti-inflammatory mechanism of modified Shoutai pills (改良寿胎丸) against lipopolysaccharide-induced miscarriage in mice[J]. Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 2026, 46(1): 22-33.