The protective effect of warming kidney and subsiding yang traditional Chinese medicine method on lung tissues of rats with acute respiratory distress syndrome associated with sepsis / 中国中西医结合急救杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the protective effect of warming kidney and subsiding yang traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) method on lung tissues of rats with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) associated with sepsis. Methods Eighty healthy male Wistar rats were divided into normal control group, model group and low, medium and high dose Fusuheji groups by random number table, 16 rats in each group. The acute lung injury (ALI) model was established by injecting lipopolysaccharide (LPS) 3 mg/kg into a rat caudal vein within 5 minutes, and the normal control group was given the same volume of normal saline. Then the low, medium and high dose TCM groups were given low, medium and high dose Fusuheji TCM mixture (the ingredients of the mixture radix aconite lateralis preparata 30 g, oysters 30 g, ginger 15 g, ephedra 15 g, licorice 10 g) 2.625, 7.875, 10.500 g/kg intragastric administration respectively. Equal volume of saline was given to the normal control group and model group by gavage. At 24 and 48 hours after respective administration, 8 rats were taken from each group to observe the pathological changes of lung tissues and score the lung injury. The rates of survival of rats were calculated after the experiment in various groups. Results After administration for 48 hours, the survival rate of rats in model group was obviously lower than that of the normal control group [18.7% (3/16) vs. 100.0% (16/16)], the low, middle and high dose Fusuheji groups' survival rates were all significantly higher than the rate of ALI model group [50.0% (8/16), 75.0% (12/16), 93.7%(15/16) vs. 18.7% (3/16), all P < 0.05]. There were no pathological changes in the lung tissues of rats in the normal control group, large amounts of exudates and hemorrhages were present in the lung tissues of ALI model group, and the inflammatory, exudative and hemorrhagic changes of lung tissues in the high, middle and low dose Fusuheji groups were obviously improved. After administration for 24 hours and 48 hours, the lung injury scores in the ALI model group were higher than those in control group (after administration for 24 hours 7.83±0.60 vs. 2.89±4.23; after administration for 48 hours 7.33±0.88 vs. 3.00±0.28), the scores of lung injury of any Fusuheji drug group were significantly lower than those of ALI model group, and the degrees of decrease were more marked in high dose Fusuheji group than those in low and middle dose Fusuheji groups (after administration for 24 hours 3.37±0.32 vs. 6.00±0.44, 4.63±0.50; after administration for 48 hours 3.25±0.25 vs. 5.25±0.25, 3.50±0.50). Conclusion The warming kidney and subsiding yang TCM method can improve the lung tissue injury in ARDS associated with sepsis in rats, promote the damaged lung tissue to recover, and ultimately the prognosis of ARDS rats is getting better.