Effect and mechanism of propolis on liver regeneration in mice
GONG Shanwen
LI Zongze
XU Yao
MIAO Xiulian
XUAN Hongzhuan
Abstract：To illustrate the effect of propolis on liver function indexes and hepatocyte proliferation during liver regeneration,C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into three groups:sham group,model group,and ethanol extracts of propolis(EEP)treatment group.Both sham and model group were given pure wa-ter,while EEP group received propolis-tragacanth solution for 10 days.And then the liver regeneration model was established by partial hepatectomy(PHx).After successful modeling by PHx,the mice were sacrificed the 4th day and the liver was collected to measure the changes in size and the liver regeneration rate of each group.HE staining were used to evaluate the histomorphologic changes;serum alanine amin-otransferase(ALT)and aspartate aminotransferase(AST)were measured to evaluate the changes in liver function;immunohistochemical staining was used to measure the expression of proliferating cell nuclear Ki67;quantitative real-time PCR were used to measure the expression of pro-inflammatory factors and cell cycle related genes.The results showed that the liver-to-body weight ratio and liver regeneration rate of mice in the EEP-treated group were significantly higher than those in the model group,while serum ALT and AST activities were reduced to the levels observed in the sham-operated group.The level of Ki67 in the liver of the EEP-treated group was significantly higher than that of the model group and the sham-operated group.EEP treatment significantly upregulated the gene transcription of pro-inflammatory fac-tors Il-6 and Tn f-α and markedly promoted the expression levels of cell proliferation marker gene Pcna and cell cycle-related genes Cdk1,Cdc25,Ccnd1,and Ccne1.The study suggests that propolis can pro-mote liver regeneration and the recovery of liver function by regulating the secretion of pro-inflammatory factors and the expression of cell cycle-related proteins,making it a potential natural bee product for en-hancing liver regeneration.
Keywords：propolispartial hepatectomyliver regenerationpro-inflammatory factorscell cycle
Publication Date：2025-10-25
Online Publishing Date：2026-08-28(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：9( 764-772 )