ABSTRACT
Aim To observe the effect of hirudin on pulmonary inflammation and fibrosis in rats with bleo-myc in-induced pulmonary fibrosis and the underlying mechanism.Methods Sixty male SD rats were ran¬domly divided into control group, model group, hirudin treatment group ( low,medium and high concentration) and prednisone group.The control group received en-dotracheal injection of saline, while the remaining five groups carried out endotracheal one-time injection of blemycin to establish rat pulmonary fibrosis model.From the second day after modeling, hirudin treatment groups were respectively administered different concen¬trations of hirudin subcutaneous injection, while control group was given saline, and prednisone was gavaged with 5 mg • kg~1 prednisone acetate, then all rats were sacrificed on day 28.Lung lesions were observed by HE and Masson staining.The relative expression levels of COL 1 and ot-SMA mRNA were detected by real¬time fluorescence quantitative PCR.The content of hydroxy proline ( HYP) in lung tissues was determined by kit.The expression levels of p38MAPK/NF-KB sig¬naling pathway related proteins in lung tissues were de¬tected by Western blot, and IL-6 and TNF-cx levels were detected by ELISA.Results Compared with model group, the inflammatory response and interstitial fibrosis of lung tissues were improved, the content of hvdroxvproline decreased, the expression of p-p38 MAPK,NF-kB p-p65and p~IkB protein decreased, and the concentration of TNF-cx and IL-6 decreased after hirudin intervention.Conclusions Hirudin can effec¬tively inhibit alveolar inflammation and reduce the de¬velopment of pulmonary fibrosis, which may be related to regulating p38 MAPK/NF-kB signaling pathway,re¬ducing the inflammatory response of lung tissues and reducing the deposition of extracellular matrix.