Effects Of Shenmai Injection On Acute Lung Injury In Rats

Acute lung injury (ALI) is one of the comment complications in severeinfections, trauma and shock, etc. It is often accompanied with progressive refractoryhypoxia and the raise of microvascular permeability. If not properly treated, acuterespiratory distress syndrome will happen and may end up fatally. Lots of pathogenicfactors, such as tumor necrosis factor-α（TNF-α）, intercellular adhesion molecule-1（ICAM-1）and malondialdehyde（MDA）might involved in the pathophysiologicalprocess of ALI. Injury of the blood endothelial cells， activation ofpolymorphonuclear leukocytes, inhibition the pulmonary surfactant and free radicalwere some of the cellular and molecular pathogenic characters.Shenmai injection is a kind of Chinese Herbal Medicine which containing redginseng, dwarf lilyturf root and so on. It is often used in the treatment of qi-yindeficiency shock, chronic pulmonary heart disease and granulocytopenia. Recentresearch suggested that the protective effects of Shenmai injection on lung injury,possibly due to inhibition the local inflammatory factors and the free radical.In this project, the acute rat lung injury model induced by oleic acid tail veininjection were used to evaluate the effects of shenmai on the acute lung injurythrough lung function, pathologic and ultrastructural analysis, to demonstrate theimportance of shenmai in clinical curing the acute lung injury. Besides, the proteinsexpressions of TNF-α and ICAM-1and the level of MDA, super oxidase dimutase（SOD）, glutathione（GSH）and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) were also assayed.One hundred and five of4week-old Wistar rats were divided randomly into threegroups: control group, acute lung injury model group and shenmai treatment group.The acute lung injury model was built by injection of oleic acid via tail vein. Ratswere sacrificed6h,8h,12h,24h and36h, respectively, after intravenous injection,the lungs were harvested for measurement of the lung index, pathological change,concentration of TNF-α and ICAM-1in lung tissues. And serum MDA, SOD, GSH and GSH-Px were determined. Compared with model group, shenmai treatmentcould relieve the acute lung injury in rats at different dose in different time point (8h,12h,24h and36h), as the swelling of lung ameliorated, congestion and edemadisappear gradually, smooth surface with good flexibility. In histology, alveolar septareturned, pulmonary capillaries congestion subside gradually, the infiltration ofinflammatory cells relieved. Ultrastructurally, hyperemia and edema subside,mitochondria structure and the number of cellular organelle tended to be normal.Lung coefficient was decreased to different extent. Moreover, shenmai candown-regulate the levels of TNF-α and ICAM-1in local tissue, decreased the levelof MDA and increased the level of SOD、GSH and GSH-Px in serum.In summary, Shenmai were found to relieve the acute lung injury of rats indifferent aspects by promoting the lung coefficient and alleviating the pathology andultrastructure changes. Shenmai have protective effects on the acute lung injury ofrats through decreasing the level of TNF-α、ICAM-1、MDA and increasing thecontent of SOD、GSH and GSH-Px.