Effects of astragalosides against oxidative stress in rats with pulmonary ischemia-reperfusion injury

Abstract

Objective To investigate the effects of astragalosides against oxidative stress in rats with pulmonary ischemia-reperfusion injury. Methods Fifty experimental rats were randomly divided into five groups: sham operation group, model group and astragalosides (20, 40, 80 mg/kg) groups (n=10). The pulmonary ischemia-reperfusion model rats were made by clipping left lung hilum for 45 min.The drugs were given by intraperitoneal injection at 30 min before operation.At 2 h after reperfusion, the wet/dry ratio of lung tissue was examined, the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), catalase (CAT) in lung tissue and myeloperoxidase (MPO) in serum were determined, the level of total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) and the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) in serum were determined, the histopathological changes and cell apoptosis of lung tissue were observed, and the apoptosis index was analyzed, the expression of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) in lung tissue was determined by Western blot and semi-quantitative analyzed. Results Compared with model group, the lung wet/dry ratio was significantly decreased, the activities of SOD, GSH-Px, CAT in lung tissue were increased, the level of T-AOC in serum was increased, the activity of MPO and the content of MDA were decreased, the histopathological changes and the lung cell apoptosis were significantly improved, the apoptosis index was decreased, the expression of NF-κB protein in lung tissue was decreased in astragalosides (40, 80 mg/kg) groups (P<0.05 or P<0.01). Conclusions Astragalosides has inhibitive effects against oxidative stress in rats with pulmonary ischemia-reperfusion injury, which is perhaps related to improving antioxidant ability, improving the free radical scavenging ability and down-regulating the expression of NF-κB protein, depressing the lung cell apoptosis. Key words: Astragalosides; Lung tissue; Ischemia-reperfusion; Oxidative stress; Effects