ABSTRACT
Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) causes uncontrolled pulmonary inflammation, resulting in high morbidity and mortality in severe cases. Given the antioxidative effect of molecular hydrogen, some recent studies suggest the potential use of molecular hydrogen as a biomedicine for the treatment of ARDS. In this study, we aimed to explore the protective effects of magnesium hydride (MgH2) on two types of ARDS models and its underlying mechanism in a lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced ARDS model of the A549 cell line. The results showed that LPS successfully induced oxidative stress, inflammatory reaction, apoptosis, and barrier breakdown in alveolar epithelial cells (AEC). MgH2 can exert an anti-inflammatory effect by down-regulating the expressions of inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α). In addition, MgH2 decreased oxidative stress by eliminating intracellular ROS, inhibited apoptosis by regulating the expressions of cytochrome c, Bax, and Bcl-2, and suppressed barrier breakdown by up-regulating the expression of ZO-1 and occludin. Mechanistically, the expressions of p-AKT, p-mTOR, p-P65, NLRP3, and cleaved-caspase-1 were decreased after MgH2 treatment, indicating that AKT/mTOR and NF-κB/NLRP3/IL-1β pathways participated in the protective effects of MgH2. Furthermore, the in vivo study also demonstrated that MgH2-treated mice had a better survival rate and weaker pathological damage. All these findings demonstrated that MgH2 could exert an ARDS-protective effect by regulating the AKT/mTOR and NF-κB/NLRP3/IL-1β pathways to suppress LPS-induced inflammatory reaction, oxidative stress injury, apoptosis, and barrier breakdown, which may provide a potential strategy for the prevention and treatment of ARDS.