Glycyrrhizin inhibits LPS-induced inflammatory responses in goat ruminal epithelial cells in vitro

Inflammation plays a crucial role in the progression of Subacute Ruminal Acidosis (SARA). The experiment was designed to investigate anti-inflammatory effects of glycyrrhizin on goats ruminal epithelial cells (GREC) which were induced SARA by Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in vitro. The GREC were induced SARA by adding LPS at the concentration of 5 μm and glycyrrhizin was added at different concentration of 0, 60, 90, 120, 150 μm. The structural integrity of LPS-induced GREC with the treatment of glycyrrhizin were observed by electron microscope; The levels of inflammatory factors TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8 and IL-12 were measured by ELISA; The number of Zo-1 and Occludin were measured, the expression of tight junction protein Occludin were measured by Western blot, and the mRNA expression of NF-κB, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8 and IL-12 were measured in vitro. The results showed that higher concentration treatment of glycyrrhizin led to better morphology in LPS-induced GREC. Glycyrrhizin inhibited the growth of inflammatory factors TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8 and IL-12 in a dose-dependent manner. The number of ZO-1 and Occludin increased with the increase of adding of glycyrrhizin. Western blot analysis showed that the expression of tight junction protein Occludin in LPS-induced GREC increased with the adding of glycyrrhizin in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, the mRNA expression of NF-κB, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8 and IL-12 decreased significantly with the increase treatment of glycyrrhizin. Glycyrrhizin significantly inhibits LPS-induced inflammatory mediators in GREC and the effects are better with the increase treatment of glycyrrhizin in vitro. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12860-023-00489-y.