Anti-Inflammatory and Anti-Oxidant Activity of Portulaca oleracea Extract on LPS-Induced Rat Lung Injury.

Vafa Baradaran Rahimi,Hassan Rakhshandeh,Nicola Mascolo,Alireza Samzadeh Kermani,Francesco Maione,Benedetta Buono,Federica Raucci,Vahid Reza Askari,Reza Shirazinia

doi:10.3390/molecules24010139

Abstract

Acute lung injury (ALI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) are classified as two lung complications arising from various conditions such as sepsis, trauma, and lung inflammation. Previous studies have shown that the extract of the leaves of Portulaca oleracea (PO) possesses anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant activities. In the present study, the effects of PO (50–200 mg/kg) and dexamethasone (Dexa; 1.5 mg/kg) on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced ALI were investigated. Subsequentially, the lung wet/dry ratio; white blood cells (WBC); levels of nitric oxide (NO); myeloperoxidase (MPO); malondialdehyde (MDA); thiol groups formation; super oxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities; and levels of interleukin (IL)-1β, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, IL-6, IL-10, prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), and transforming growth factor (TGF)-β in the broncho alveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were evaluated in order to demonstrate the anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory activity of PO. Our results show that PO suppresses lung inflammation by the reduction of IL-β, IL-6, TNF-α, PGE2, and TGF-β, as well as by the increase of IL-10 levels. We also found that PO improves the level of WBC, MPO, and MDA, as well as thiol group formation and SOD and CAT activities, compared with the LPS group. The results of our investigation also show that PO significantly decreased the lung wet/dry ratio as an index of interstitial edema. Taken together, our findings reveal that PO extract dose-dependently displays anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory activity against LPS-induced rat ALI, paving the way for rational use of PO as a protective agent against lung-related inflammatory disease.

Highlights

Inflammation plays a dual protective and damaging role against cellular and tissue damages.Acute inflammation is usually considered a protective role to destroy and remove the noxious stimuli and injured tissues, thereby allowing the tissue repair
Our results revealed that LPS treatment significantly modified hematologic indices of neutrophil, eosinophil, and monocyte/macrophage, as well as totalHematologic white blood cells (Figure 2A–E, Effects ofbasophil, LPS and Lavage Fluid (BALF)
We demonstrated that LPS significantly increases the levels of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and other inflammatory cytokines in the broncho alveolar lavage fluid (BALF) compared with the control group

Summary

Introduction

Acute inflammation is usually considered a protective role to destroy and remove the noxious stimuli and injured tissues, thereby allowing the tissue repair When this process becomes uncontrolled, another face of inflammation appears. In this regard, acute lung injury (ALI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) are known as two inflammatory lung complications with a high rate of morbidity and mortality [1,2]. Acute lung injury (ALI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) are known as two inflammatory lung complications with a high rate of morbidity and mortality [1,2] These are characterized by severe pulmonary inflammation, massive recruitment of neutrophils and lymphocytes in interstitial tissue, edema, disruption of epithelial integrity, and the injury of lung parenchyma [3]. ALI and ARDS result from various diseases and pathological conditions such as trauma, pneumonia, sepsis, and endotoxemia [4,5]

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