ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the protective effect of carnosine on radiation-induced lung injury in mice.Methods A total of 108 C57/BL female mice were randomly divided into 4 groups:control group without treatment,irradiation alone group,irradiation + carnosine group (15 mg·kg-1·d-1),and carnosine alone group (15 mg· kg-1· d-1).There were 18 mice in control group and 30 mice in every other group.Whole lung anterior chest was irradiated with a single dose of 13 Gy 10 MV X-rays.The mice were administered with carnosine (15 mg· kg-1· d-1) at 30 minutes before irradiation and then garaged once a day until the end of the experiment.The control group was given with saline.At 7,28,and 56 d after irradiation,6 mice of control group and 10 mice of each other group were killed.A portion of lung tissues were stained with HE and other part of lung tissues were used to detect the levels of SOD.Meanwhile,TGF-β1 and TNF-α in the serum were detected with ELISA.Results Different levels of inflammation factors were expressed in the lung tissues of irradiation group and irradiation + carnosine group at 56 d after irradiation,but the inflammation in the irradiation + carnosine group was significantly lighter than that in the irradiation group.Among (7,28 and 56 d) after radiation,TGF-β1,TNF-α,and SOD levels in different groups had significant differences.At the same time point after irradiation,the level of SOD in lung tissue of irradiation + carnosine group was significantly higher than that of irradiation group (F =4.33,4.19,3.34,P ＜0.05),but the levels of TGF-β1 and TNF-α in serum were reduced.Conclusions Carnosine can prevent and inhibit radiation-induced lung injury in mice by increasing SOD and reducing TGF-β1 and TNF-α.