Mastitis, inflammation in the breast, affects breastfeeding women in the postpartum period. In the present study, we investigated the protective effects of piperine against mastitis using a mouse mastitis model. LPS-induced mastitis was established by injecting LPS into the canals of the mammary gland. Piperine was given intraperitoneally 1 h before and 12 h after LPS treatment. The results showed that the LPS-induced mammary histopathological changes and MPO activity were attenuated by piperine. LPS-induced inflammatory cytokines TNF-α andIL-1β were also inhibited by piperine. Furthermore, LPS-induced NF-κB activation was suppressed by the treatment with piperine. In addition, we found piperine dose-dependently increased the expression of PPARγ. All of these results suggested that piperine had protective effects against LPS-induced mastitis and that the mechanism may be mediated through the activation of PPARγ.

乳房炎，即乳房发炎，会影响产后哺乳期妇女。在本研究中，我们使用小鼠乳腺炎模型调查了胡椒碱对乳腺炎的保护作用。LPS诱发的乳腺炎是通过将LPS注入乳腺管而建立的。在LPS治疗之前1小时和之后12小时腹膜内给予胡椒碱。结果表明，胡椒碱减弱了LPS诱导的乳腺组织病理学改变和MPO活性。胡椒碱也可抑制LPS诱导的炎性细胞因子TNF-α和IL-1β。此外，通过用胡椒碱处理抑制了LPS诱导的NF-κB活化。另外，我们发现胡椒碱剂量依赖性地增加了PPARγ的表达。