The protective effect of dexmedetomidine on acute lung injury induced by lipopolysaccharide

Abstract

Objective To investigate whether dexmedetomidine (Dex) has a protective effect against acute lung injury (ALI) in lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induced mice model. Methods Mice were randomly allocated into three groups as follows: LPS group (LPS administration), LPS + Dex group1 (LPS administration+ 50 μg/kg Dex), and LPS+ Dex group2 (LPS administration+ 25 μg/kg Dex). Lung tissue sections were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (HE) to observe the pathological changes. The c-reactive protein was measured with automatic biochemical analyzer. The apoptotic marker Caspase-3 expression was detected by Western blot. Results HE staining showed pulmonary interstitial congestion, edema and inflammatory cell infiltration in LPS group. Intraperitoneal injection of dexmedetomidine could significantly improve the pathological changes of lung tissue. Compared with LPS group, C-reactive protein and Caspase-3 were significantly reduced in dexmetomidine group. Conclusions Dexmedetomidine attenuates LPS-induced inflammatory reaction and apoptosis in mice. Key words: Lipopolysaccharides/AE; Acute lung injury/CI/DT; Dexmedetomidine/TU; Mice