The relationship of endoplasmic reticulum stress with paraquat induced lung fibrosis in rats

Abstract

To investigate the relationship between pulmonary fibrosis and endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) in rats with paraquat poisoning. One hundred male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into control group (n=10) and paraquat poisoning group (n=90). The animals were sacrificed by exsanguination at 2, 6, 12, 24, 48, 72, 96, 168, 336 hours after administration with 20% parquat solution. The paraffin sections of lung tissue were stained with hematoxylin-eosin (HE) and Masson trichrome to observe the pathological changes. Glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78) was determined by immunohistochemistry, and malondialdehyde (MDA) of lung tissue was measured. The total protein of tissue was abstracted, and the α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and GRP78 was detected by Western blotting. HE and Masson staining demonstrated inflammatory infiltration and collagen deposition in the lung after paraquat administration with a tendency of exaggeration with time, and finally resulted in fibrosis. The expressions of MDA, α-SMA and GRP78 in the lung tissue were significantly increased 2 hours after paraquat administration compared with those of control group (MDA: 1.38 ± 0.18 nmol/mg vs. 0.85 ± 0.05 nmol/mg, α-SMA: 0.23 ± 0.01 vs. 0.14 ± 0.03, GRP78: 0.72 ± 0.02 vs. 0.37 ± 0.06, P<0.05 or P<0.01), and the expressions of MDA and α-SMA were gradually increased with time. GRP78 protein expression was decreased at 72 hours after paraquat administration. The results reveal that the expressions of α-SMA and GRP78 in paraquat poisoning group are up-regulated, suggesting ERS plays an important role in paraquat induced-pulmonary fibrosis.