Asiaticoside attenuates bleomycin-induced interstitial pulmonary fibrosis / 中国药理学与毒理学杂志

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE To study the therapeutic effect and the underlying mechanism of asiatico?side on bleomycin-induced rat interstitial pulmonary fibrosis(IPF). METHODS Male Sprague-Dawley (SD)rats were divided into normal control group,bleomycin 5 mg·kg-1 model group and asiaticoside 50 mg · kg-1 group. The model and asiaticoside group were administrated with bleomycin 5 mg · kg-1 to induce IPF,while the asiaticoside group was administrated with asiaticoside 50 mg·kg-1 by gastric perfusion. Hematein eosin(HE)and Masson staining were carried out to analyze the histopathological changes in the lung. Lung homogenates were used to examine hydroxyproline(HYP) content,and serum samples were used to measure the concentration of interferon-γ(IFN-γ),interleukin-4(IL-4) and tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α). In addition,immunohistochemical methods were used to locate lung transforming growth factor-β1(TGF-β1)and adenosine 2A receptor(A2AR)expression,and Western blotting was used to examine the expression levels of TGF-β1 and A2AR. RESULTS On the 7th,14th and 28th days,the scores of pulmonary inflammation were higher in model group than in control group (P<0.01),and the asiaticoside group showed mitigated alveolitis(P<0.01,P<0.05) compared with model group. Compared with control group,the scores of pulmonary fibrosis in model group were elevated(P<0.01),and the asiaticoside group showed reduced pulmonary fibrosis(P<0.05). On the 14th and 28th days,HYP content in the model group〔1.85±0.10,(2.48±0.18)mg·g-1〕was higher than in the control group〔0.79 ± 0.07,(0.84 ± 0.08)mg · g-1〕(P<0.01),but HYP content in the asiaticoside group〔1.32±0.131,(1.71±0.13)mg·g-1〕was lower than in the model group(P<0.05). IL-4 and TNF-αin the asiaticoside group were lower than in model group(P<0.05),but were higher in the model group than in the control group(P<0.01,P<0.05). The expression level of TGF-β1 protein in the asiaticoside group was lower than in the model group(P<0.05),but was higher in the model group than in the control group(P<0.05). The expression level of A2AR protein in the asiaticoside group was higher than in the model group(P<0.05),but was lower in the model group than in the control group(P<0.05). CONCLUSION Asiaticoside can mitigate bleomycin-induced IPF by inhibiting the expression of IL-4, TNF-αand TGF-β1,and raising the level of A2AR.