ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the therapeutic role and potential mechanisms of astaxanthin (ASX) pretreatment on cecal ligation and puncture (CLP)-induced sepsis in mice .Methods Sepsis was induced by CLP in male mice ,which were then randomly divided into saline control group ,sepsis model group (CLP group) ,and CLP+ASX group (mice received 60 mg/(kg · d) ASX dissolved in olive oil via oral gavage for 14 consecutive days before CLP operation) .① The mice were monitored to assess 72-hour survival rate .② Clinical scores of mice in the three groups were calculated 24 h after CLP to determine the severity of sepsis .Blood samples were collected at 24 h after CLP modeling to determine the serum ALT ,BUN ,TNF-α and IL-6 levels .The intestine ,lung ,liver and kidney tissues were collected to assess organ functions and pathological changes .Results The results showed that mice in CLP group had a significantly lower survival rate at 72 h than those in CLP+ASX group (P=0 .0202) .CLP+ASX sepsis group had a lower clinical score than CLP sepsis group(10 .78 ± 0 .79 vs .13 .67 ± 0 .44 ,P=0 .005) .The tissue histopathology and biochemical analysis revealed that ASX markedly alleviated histological examination damage in the intestines [villus height :(390 .67 ± 14 .58)μm vs .(326 .67 ± 10 .31)μm , P=0 .005] ,lung (lung wet/dry ratio :4.75±0.24 vs.5.05±0.22,P=0.0476),liver[ALT:(105.0±10.53)U/L vs.(174.8±9.289)U/L,P=0.0006] and kidney [BUN:(54 .50 ± 3 .57)mg/dL vs .(69 .17 ± 3 .33)mg/dL , P= 0 .0132] tissues in sepsis .Moreover , significant lower levels of TNF-α [(258 .06 ± 16 .21 )pg/mL vs . (538 .17 ± 30 .80 )pg/mL , P< 0 .0001 ] and IL-6 [(5 .90 ± 0 .80)ng/mL vs .(12 .56 ± 0 .55)ng/mL , P<0 .0001] were discovered in the CLP+ ASX sepsis group in contrast to the CLP sepsis group .Conclusion ASX can significantly lower the mortality of mice with CLP-induced sepsis by improving organ functions and inhibiting the release of inflammatory factors .