ABSTRACT
In order to study the protective effects of Schizonepeta volatile oil (Sto）on endotoxin poisoning mice, and the relatively content of each chemical osubstance in Schizonepeta volatile oil was measured using GC-MS. The mare C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into five groups including the normal group, model group, dexamethasone group (5 mg•kg⁻¹), and Sto (0.226 and 0.452 g•kg⁻¹, respectively) groups. The dexamethasone group was given the drugs once time by intraperitoneal injection on the 5th day, while the other mice were given drugs by oral administration once a day for 5 days. Then, the normal group was injected with the saline and the other groups were injected LPS (15 mg•kg-1) after 30 minutes of the last administration. After LPS injection twelve hours, the blood, serum, and lung tissue of mice were collected. The IL-18, IL-1β, IL-5, TNF-α, MCP-1, MIP-1β, M-CSF, and GM-CSF were measured in serum by ELISA and Luminex Magpix. The white cell (WBC) and platelet (PLT) in blood were counted and lung, spleen, and thymus index were calculated. The lung histopathology was performed at the same time. The GC-MS results showed that the relative content of menthone and pulegone are 46.67% and 33.92%, respectively. The Sto (0.452 and 0.226 g•kg⁻¹, respectively) reduced the levels of IL-1β, IL-5, TNF-α, MCP-1, MIP-1β, and M-CSF in serum (P<0.01 or P<0.05). The 0.452 g•kg⁻¹ Sto also reduced the levels of IL-18 and GM-CSF in the serum (P<0.01 or P<0.05). And the 0.226 g•kg⁻¹ Sto showed good anti-inflammatory effects by reducing neutrophil infiltration in the lung tissue. But the Sto had no effect on the increasing of WBC, spleen and lung index as well as decreasing of PLT and thymus index. The results showed that Sto has a protective effect in LPS-induced exdotoxin poisoning mice, its mechanism is related to inhibit the release of varies of inflammatory cytokines and reduce the inflammation reaction.