Protective effect of breviscapine on acute lung injury in rats with infectious shock

Abstract

Acute lung injury (ALI), during the progression of infectious shock, leads to systemic inflammatory response syndrome with increased pulmonary capillary membrane permeability due to pulmonary inflammation and uncontrolled inflammatory responses. It may cause fatality in patients. Here, we evaluated the protective effect of breviscapine on ALI in rats with infectious shock. Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were assigned into Sham, model [lipopolysaccharide (LPS) group], and breviscapine treatment groups (LPS + breviscapine group) and weighed. The lung coefficient, and the wet-to-dry weight ratio (W/D) and moisture content of lung tissues were calculated. The pathological changes of the lung tissues were detected using hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining, and the protein expressions of interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β), IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Western blotting was conducted to measure the protein expressions of toll-like receptor-9 (TLR-9) and nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) (p65). Compared with LPS group, breviscapine significantly lowered the lung coefficient and the W/D and moisture content of lung tissues, relieved the pathological changes of lung tissues, reduced the protein expression levels of IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α, weakened the activation of NF-κB (p65) in lung tissues, and repressed the protein expressions of TLR-9 and NF-κB (p65).