phenanthrenes and Respiratory-Distress-Syndrome

Alveolar hypercoagulation and fibrinolysis inhibition were associated with the refractory hypoxemia and the high mortality in patient with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and NF-κB pathway was confirmed to contribute to the process. Triptolide (TP) significantly inhibited NF-κB pathway and thus depressed accessive inflammatory response in ARDS. We speculate that TP could improve alveolar hypercoagulation and fibrinolytic inhibition in LPS-induced ARDS via NF-κB inactivation.. The aim of this experiment was to explore the efficacy and potential mechanism of TP on alveolar hypercoagulation and fibrinolysis inhibition in LPS-induced ARDS in mice.. 50 μl of LPS (5 mg/ml) was inhalationally given to C57BL/6 mice to set up ARDS model. Male mice were randomly accepted with LPS, LPS + TP (1 μg/kg, 10 μg/kg, 50 μg/kg respectively), or with NEMO Binding domain peptide (NBD), an inhibitor of NF-κB. TP (1 μg/kg, 10 μg/kg, 50 μg/kg) were intraperitoneally injected or 10 μg/50 μl of NBD solution were inhaled 30 min before LPS inhalation. A same volume of normal saline (NS) substituted for TP in mice in control. The endpoint of experiment was at 8 hours after LPS stimulation. Pulmonary tissues were taken for hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining, wet / dry ratio and for lung injury scores (LIS). Tissue factor (TF) and plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI)-1 in lung tissue were detected by Western-blotting and by quantitative Real-time PCR(qPCR) respectively. Concentrations of TF, PAI-1, thrombin-antithrombin complex (TAT), procollagen peptide type Ⅲ (PⅢP) and activated protein C (APC) in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were measured by ELISA. NF-κB activation and p65-DNA binding activity in pulmonary tissue were simultaneously determined.. LPS stimulation resulted in pulmonary edema, neutrophils infiltration, obvious alveolar collapse, interstitial congestion, with high LIS, which were all dose-dependently ameliorated by Triptolide. LPS also dramatically promoted the expressions of TF and PAI-1 either in mRNA or in protein in lung tissue, and significantly stimulated the secretions of TF, PAI-1, TAT, PⅢP but inhibited APC production in BALF, which were all reversed by triptolide treatment in dose-dependent manner. TP dose-dependently inhibited the activation of NF-κB pathway induced by LPS, indicated by the changes of phosphorylations of p65 (p-p65), p-IKKα/β and p-IκBα, and weakened p65-DNA binding activity. TP and NBD had same efficacies either on alveolar hypercoagulation and fibrinolysis inhibition or on NF-κB signalling pathway in ARDS mice.. TP dose-dependently improves alveolar hypercoagulation and fibrinolysis inhibition in ARDS mice through inhibiting NF-κB signaling pathway. Our data demonstrate that TP is expected to be an effective selection in ARDS.

Topics: Animals; Disease Models, Animal; Diterpenes; Epoxy Compounds; Fibrinolysis; Lipopolysaccharides; Lung; Lung Injury; Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; NF-kappa B; Phenanthrenes; Respiratory Distress Syndrome; Signal Transduction; Thrombophilia; Thromboplastin

Activation of neutrophils may contribute to lung injury in the adult respiratory distress syndrome. We added rabbit neutrophils to the pulmonary circulation of salt-perfused and ventilated isolated rabbit lungs. These neutrophils were activated by adding synthetically pure melittin to the perfusate. This led to lung injury as measured by filtration coefficient under no-flow conditions. We also activated neutrophils in vitro before addition to the pulmonary circulation. These preactivated neutrophils also produced lung injury, indicating a primary action of melittin on neutrophils rather than on lung. The injury was prevented by aristolochic acid, which is an inhibitor of phospholipase A2 (PLA2), and independently by catalase, which is scavenger of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Aristolochic acid also appeared to act primarily on neutrophils since addition to neutrophils in vitro prevented injury from in vitro activation by melittin. Aristolochic acid did not appear to act as a free radical scavenger since it did not prevent injury from neutrophils activated by phorbol myristate acetate (PMA). PMA is a direct activator of protein kinase C in neutrophils and leads to formation of H2O2 with consequent lung injury. We conclude that activation of neutrophils by melittin leads to oxidant lung injury possibly from activation of PLA2. Since PLA2 does not directly produce a second messenger, such as diacylglycerol or inositol triphosphate, it is likely that other actions of PLA2 produce an intermediary mediator. We previously showed that an inhibitor of eicosanoid synthesis prevents lung injury from exogenous PLA2. This suggests that the formation of leukotriene B4 (LTB4), a 5-lipoxygenase product of arachidonic acid, may contribute to the oxidant lung injury from melittin.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Topics: Analysis of Variance; Animals; Aristolochic Acids; Catalase; In Vitro Techniques; Lung; Melitten; Neutrophils; Perfusion; Phenanthrenes; Phospholipases A; Phospholipases A2; Pulmonary Circulation; Rabbits; Reactive Oxygen Species; Respiratory Distress Syndrome