2.2 Experimental sketch
BALB/c mice (8-10 weeks, 20-22 g) used in this study were gained from SPF (Beijing) Biotechnology Co., Ltd. All animal experiments were in accordance with the relevant provisions and obtained the approvement from The Animal Experiment Committee of Fudan University (Shanghai, China). The mice were shaved a smooth area of 2 x 3 cm at the back. Meanwhile, every mouse could acquire enough food and water during experiment. Their living environment was also dry and comfortable. We randomly divided the mice into four groups: 1) control (CON, N=4); 2) imiquimod (IMQ, n=4) treated; 3) methotrexate (MTX, a clinical drug to treat psoriasis, n=4,) treated; 4) curcumin treated group (CUR, n=4). Except the CTR group mice, other groups mice were treated topically with a daily dose of 62.5 mg imiquimod cream every day. The psoriasis-like model was built after continuous 6 days. MTX treated mice and CUR-treated mice were treated for the intragastric application with MTX (1.0 mg/kg· d) and curcumin (100 mg/kg· d), applied after 1 day of imiquimod treatment. MTX and CUR were dissolved and diluted by clean and distilled water. After killed all the mice, the back skin and intestinal feces were collected for further processing.