Abstract Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) is an inflammation of the upper genital tract. PID is the leading cause of some severe sequelae in the absence of timely and accurate diagnosis and treatment. An appropriate animal model is needed to explore the underlying mechanism of PID sequelae. This study introduced an animal model of PID by vaginal injection of liquid Ureaplasma urealyticum combined with fatigue and hunger (UVF). This study was designed to test the feasibility of a rat model. A rat model was established using UVF irradiation. Levels of some inflammatory cytokines in the serum and the homogenates of the fallopian tubes were measured by ELISA, RT-PCR, and flow cytometry and compared with another rat model of Ureaplasma urealyticum liquids injected into the two uterus horns during laparotomy. Inflammatory alterations and adhesions were observed after hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining and detected using the Blauer scoring system. The results showed that the combined UVF and rat model caused apparent obstruction, edema, and adhesion in the fallopian tubes and connective tissues. The rat model showed upregulated CD4, CD8, and CD4/CD8 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and significantly increased levels of IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, and IL-17. UVF also enhanced the expression of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, transforming growth factor (TGF)-β, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) β, and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 (P<0.05). The UVF rat model can induce inflammatory alterations in the fallopian tubes and connective tissues, and can be used as a model of PID.

A herbal ingredient kurannone (7, 2', 4,-trihydroxy-8-lavandulyl-5-methoxy flavanone) was isolated from the roots of sophoraflavescens Ait by ultrasonic extraction, which is one of tradicional Chinese medicine (TCM) materials. A reliable high performance liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) method was used for determination of kurarinone. C18 column (150x4.6 mm, 5 µm) and methanol-water mobile phase (70:30, by volume) were used in the chromatographic separation of active components from the herb. HPLC-ESI-MS (UV, 288 nm; m/z, 437.5 [M-H]-) was adopted for kurarinone identification. Kurarinone with purity of 95.5% was obtained by silica gel column foUowed by reverse-phase column chromatography. The thermal stability of kurarinone was investigated, which illustrates that kurarinone was stable below 25 °C in 48 h, but a degradation of 25.54% was observed at 80 °C for 2 h.