Study On The Effect Of Oxymatrine On Acute Lung Injury And Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Animal Model

Oxymatrine (OMT), one of the alkaloids with activities of anti-inflammation that has been available in hospital for treatment of hepatitis. However, there are few studies about the effect of OMT on pulmonary inflammation. In this study, we investigated the intervene effect of OMT in vivo on both animal acute lung injury (ALI) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) model.The effect of OMT on ALI rabbit modelWe use an oleic acid-induced ALI rabbit model to investigate the effect of OMT in vivo. OMT was given before injection of oleic acid at dose of 20, 40, 80mg/kg. The respiratory amplitude and rate were observed, and blood samples were taken from cervical artery for blood-gas analysis. We also collected brochoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), and measured IL-8 and ICAM-1 concentrations. The findings showed that continuous infusion of oxymatrine significantly alleviated oleic acid-induced lung injury accompanied by improvement of pathological changes, increases in the ratio of partial pressure of oxygen in artery (PaO₂) and fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO₂), and decreases in IL-8 and ICAM-1 level in BALF.The effect of OMT on COPD rat modelWe established COPD animal model by intra-tracheal instillation of bleomycin (BLM) once and exposure to cigarette smoke for continuous 28 days, and to observe the effects of inhaled oxymatrine on the model. After 28 days, blood samples were taken from cervical artery for blood-gas analysis and parameters of lung function were recorded. We also collected BALF and measured ICAM-1 concentration. The findings showed that atomization inhaled oxymatrine alleviated oleic acid-induced lung injury accompanied by improvement of pathological changes, increases in the ratio of forced expiratory volume in 0.3 second (FEV_0.3) and forced vital capacity (FVC), and decreases in ICAM-1 level in BALF.In conclusion, our studies suggested that OMT has the beneficial effect on pulmonary inflammation. Its protective effects were showed not only by histomorphological improvement but also by lung function even whole animal function improvement. In addition, the effect of OMT on cytokines level in ALI and COPD animal BALF indicated OMT might have inhibitory effect on lung inflammation by inhibiting excess expression of cytokines.