Effect of azithromycin on airway inflammation and airway mucus hyper-secretion in rats with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease / 中国病理生理杂志

ABSTRACT

[ABSTRACT]AIM:Toobservetheeffectofazithromycinontheratswithchronicobstructivepulmonarydisease ( COPD) , and to explore the underlying mechanism about the airway inflammation and mucus hypersecretion.METH-ODSMale SD rats were randomly divided into normal control group, COPD model group, azithromycin treatment group. The COPD model was established by the method of cigarette smoking combined with intratracheal injection of LPS.Patho-logical changes of the bronchi and lung tissues of the rats were observed with HE staining.Pulmonary ventilation function in the rats was detected with pulmonary function instrument.The levels of IL-8, IL-17 and TNF-αin bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were measured by ELISA.The expression of MUC5ac and TLR4 at mRNA and protein levels in bronchi and lung tissues was determined by real-time PCR and Western blot.RESULTS:HE staining showed that the changes of bron-chi and lung tissues in model group were consistent with typical pathological manifestations of COPD .Compared with model group, these changes were alleviated in treatment group.The pulmonary functions in model group were significantly de-creased compared with control group.The levels of IL-8, IL-17 and TNF-αin the BALF in model group were significantly increased compared with control group (P<0.05).The expression of MUC5ac and TLR4 at mRNA and protein levels in model group was significantly higher than that in control group (P<0.05).Compared with model group, the degree of the descent in pulmonary function in treatment group was significantly lessened.Compared with model group, the levels of IL-8, IL-17 and TNF-αin treatment group were significantly inhibited (P<0.05).Furthermore, the expression of MUC5ac and TLR4 at mRNA and protein levels in treatment group was significantly lower than that in model group ( P<0.05 ) . CONCLUSION:Azithromycin decreases the levels of IL-8, IL-17 and TNF-αin the BALF of COPD model rats, inhibits the protein expression of MUC5ac and TLR4 in the lung tissues, thus playing a preventive and therapeutic role to reduce airway inflammation and airway mucus hypersecretion.