The Effect Of Prevention And Cure Of Astragalus And Safflower Mixture On Interstitial Pulmonary Fibrosis In Rats Induced By Bleomycin

Objective:To study the expression of TGF-β1,TNF-αand VEGF in interstitial pulmonary fibrosis(IPF) in rats.And to investigate the therapeutic effects and its mechanisms of Astragalus and Safflower mixture.Methods:Fourty male Wistar rats were made to models of IPF by bleomycin and divided randomly into four groups,namely sham group(group A),model group(group B),Prednisone-treated group,(group C) and mixture-treated group(group D).Two weeks later,all of rats was put to death.The left lung tissue was dealed by HE and VG stain in order to measure the level of fibrosis damage.The expression of TGF-β1, TNF-αand VEGF was assessed in right lung tissues by ELISA or RIA.Results:1.Pathology:The lung tissue was stained with HE.There was no change in group A,but in group B,it was shown that heavy alveolar catarrh and a great of interstitial vollagen are very obviously.The situation like those in two cured groups are lighter than that in group B;2.image analysis of HE: anachromasis field and understain field in group B were raised up obviously.While in group C and D,they were descend significantly between group Cand D,there was significant deviation in anachromasis field,but was not in understain field;3.image analysis of VG:The area of dyed collagen fibrils of group B is larger than that of group A.While that of two cured groups is light significantly and the difference is remarkable.4.The expression of protein:The level of three species of cytokines in group B increased significantly.Compared with group Aand B,the level of TGF-β1 and TNF-αwas decreased markedly in group C and D.There was no significant difference between group C and D.But about the level of VEGF,there was significant difference between group C and D;5.correlation analysis:The correlation of three species cytokines and understain field was positive.Conclusion:1.The expression of TGF-β1 and TNF-αupregulated significantly in the lung tissue of experimental IPF rats in the early days of IPF.2.The expression of VEGF upregulated significantly in the lung tissue of experimental IPF rats in the early days of IPF.3.Astragalus and safflower mixture can suppress the upregulation of expression of TGF-β1,TNF-αand VEGF in bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis in rats,and decrease their field of fibrous connective tissue.It is inferred that it may be one of mechanisms of Astragalus and Safflower mixture suppressing IPF.