Anti-acute Lung Injury Activity of Gentiopicroside

Purpose To investigate the anti-acute lung injury (ALI) activity of gentiopicroside on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced ALI mice model.

Methods Forty healthy male adult SPF Kunming mice were randomly divided into 4 groups: sham group, ALI model group (intratracheal instillation of 5 mg/kg of LPS), positive drug control group (intraperitoneal injection of 3.3 mg/kg of hydrocortisone, once daily for 3 days, and intratracheal instillation of 5 mg/kg of LPS 24 hours later) and gentiopicroside group (intraperitoneal injection of 20 mg/kg of gentiopicroside, once daily for 3 days, and intratracheal instillation of 5 mg/kg of LPS 24 hours later). The mice in each group were sacrificed 24 h after intratracheal instillation of LPS. The lung coefficients, the ratio of inflammatory cells in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and the pathological changes were tested.

Results The mice’s lung coefficients of the positive drug group and gentiopicroside group were significantly lower than that of the ALI model group (P<0.05), there was no significant difference between the positive drug group and gentiopicroside group. The percentage of inflammatory cells in BALF and the percentage of neutrophils in inflammatory cells of the ALI model group were significantly lower than those of the sham group (P<0.01), those of the positive drug group and gentiopicroside group was significantly lower than the ALI model group (P<0.01), the positive drug group was significantly lower than the gentiopicroside group (P<0.05). The structure of lungs from mice in the sham group was normal and no inflammatory cells in alveolar spaces, the ALI model group showed proliferation of alveolar epithelial cells, alveolar wall thickening, lymphocyte and neutrophil infiltration in the alveolar space, and consolidation of partial lung, the inflammatory pathological changes of lung tissues in the positive drug group and gentiopicroside group was significantly ameliorated.

Conclusion Gentiopicroside injection can significantly ameliorate the inflammatory reaction degree in mice with acute lung injury induced by LPS, and shows good anti-ALI activity.