An's anorectal fumigation lotion for nuclear factor kappa-B pathway-targeted treatment of inflammatory mixed hemorrhoids.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the mechanism by which An's anorectal fumigation lotion (AAFL) treats inflammatory mixed hemorrhoids. METHODS: Eighty Sprague-Dawley rats, with an equal number of males and females, were randomly assigned to the following four groups: control, model, AAFL, and positive groups. Following hemorrhoid induction, hemorrhoidal tissues were collected from the rats for analysis. Pathological alterations in these tissues were examined via hematoxylin-eosin staining. Immun-ohistochemistry was used to detect inflammatory markers. The ultrastructural pathological changes in these tissues were observed by transmission electron microscopy. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting were used to analyze the gene and protein expression of nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) p65, inhibitor of kappa-B (IκB), inhibitor of NF-κB kinase (IκK-β), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α). RESULTS: Compared with the control group, the rats in each treatment group showed general improvements in hemorrhoidal tissue pathology. The AAFL group showed increased IκB expression and decreased IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, NF-κB, p65, and IκK-β expressions. CONCLUSION: AAFL can decrease the production of inflammatory markers by targeting the NF-κB pathway, resulting in improved pathological conditions in mixed hemorrhoids. Our findings will aid in the treatment of mixed hemorrhoids.