Demonstration of a mechanism of anti-inflammatory effect of erythromycin on allergic airway inflammation in rat / 中华儿科杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate whether erythromycin exerts anti-inflammatory effect on allergic airway inflammation and whether erythromycin modulate allergic airway inflammation by inhibiting nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappa B) activation.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Ovalbumin (OVA) together with aluminum hydroxide and Bordetella Pertussis was injected intraperitoneally to immunize SD rats and two weeks later 1% OVA was inhaled to challenge them for consecutive 7 days to mimic allergic airway inflammation. In treatment group, erythromycin was given orally (180 mg/kg.d) during the course of allergen exposure. WBC counts in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and lung specimen analysis were used to describe lung tissue inflammation. The expression of NF-kappa B subunit p65 in cell nucleus of lung tissue was measured by immunohistochemistry and NF-kappa B binding activation in lung tissue by electrophoresis mobility shift assay (EMSA).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Lung tissue specimen analysis indicated that the severity of allergic inflammation was reduced in treatment group. The number of total WBC in BALF (x 10(8)/L) (31 +/- 22) was lower than that in model group animals (66 +/- 28), P < 0.01. The number (x 10(3)/mm(2)) of cells with nuclear staining of NF-kappa B per square millimeter of submucosal region around large bronchus (1.4 +/- 0.4) was lower than that in model group animals (2.6 +/- 0.6), P < 0.01. NF-kappa B binding activity (32 +/- 14) was lower than that of model group (46 +/- 17), P < 0.05.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Erythromycin had an obvious protective role in allergic airway inflammation. Erythromycin inhibited NF-kappa B transcriptional activity to exert anti-inflammatory effect.</p>