ABSTRACT
Aim To study the development of acute lung inflammation in mice induced by activation of the complement alternative pathway and the changes of the related indicators, and to provide an ideal pathological model of acute lung inflammation in mice for drug screening and intervention. Methods Cobra venom factor( CVF) was used to activate complement alterna-tive pathway of SPF Kunming mice by intravenous injection. According to different sampling time, the mice were divided into 15 min, 30 min, 1 h, 2 h, 6 h group, and the parallel PBS control groups were set at the same time. Lung coefficient, lung water content, myeloperoxidase ( MPO ) activity, BALF cell number and protein content were tested. The pathological changes of lung tissue were observed by HE staining. The concentration of IL-6 , TNF-α, P-selectin and ICAM-1 in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid ( BALF ) and serum were determined by ELISA. Results CVF caused pulmonary inflammatory cell infiltration in mice obviously. Compared with PBS groups, MPO activity of lung tissue, BALF cell and the protein concentration were significantly increased. The contents of IL-6, TNF-α, P-selectin in BALF and serum were in-creased, and the content of ICAM-1 in serum was also increased. The content of P-selectin in BALF reached the first peak at 30 min point, the content of IL-6 and TNF-α in BALF reached the first peak at 1 h point, but the indicators had no further changes at 2 h point, and all the indicators rose again at 6 h point. The lev-els of IL-6 and TNF-α in serum reached peak at 1 h point,then the content showed lower levels at the sub-sequent time points. The levels of P-selectin and ICAM-1 in serum increased along the time. Lung coef-ficient, lung water content and ICAM-1 of the BALF showed no significant alteration. Conclusion The ac-tivation of the complement alternative pathway can lead to acute lung inflammation in mice and the inflammato-ry response is the most obvious at 30 min to 1 h. The study could provide an ideal pathological model of a-cute lung inflammation in mice for drug screening and intervention.