ABSTRACT
Aim To investigate the protective effect of flavonoids from Radix tetrastigmae (RTFs)on lipopo-lysaccharide (LPS)induced acute lung injury (ALI) of aged mice and the mechanism.Methods Aged C57BL/6J mice were bronchially instillated LPS to in-duce ALI.RTFs were orally administered to treat ALI. After 3 days,bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) was collected to enumerate leukocytes with Wright-Gi-emsa staining,and to detect inflammatory cytokines with ELISA.ELISA and Western blot methods were al-so used to detect the expression of MAPKs and NF-κB in lung tissues.The activity of NF-κB in nucleic pro-tein extract was detected with TransAMkit.Results ALI models were successfully induced through LPS in-stillation.RTFs significantly reduced leukocyte,espe-cially neutrophil infiltration in BALF,inhibited IL-1 β, IL-6,IL-1 2p40,TNF-αand sTNF-R1 secretion,and improved pathohistological change of lung tissues.Be-sides,RTFs significantly attenuated the phosphoryla-tion of p38MAPK,NF-κB and the activity of NF-κB. Conclusion RTFs inhibits LPS-induced ALI through p38MAPK and NF-κB pathway and exhibits significant anti-inflammation effect on aged mice.