4.7 Article

Shikonin exerts anti-inflammatory effects in a murine model of lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury by inhibiting the nuclear factor-kappaB signaling pathway

Journal

INTERNATIONAL IMMUNOPHARMACOLOGY
Volume 16, Issue 4, Pages 475-480

Publisher

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.intimp.2013.04.020

Keywords

Shikonin; Lipopolysaccharide (LPS); Acute lung injury (ALI); Anti-inflammatory; Nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappa B)

Funding

  1. National Natural Science Foundation of China [31272622, 3120195]
  2. Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China [20110061130010, 20120061120098]

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Shikonin, an analog of naphthoquinone pigments isolated from the root of Lithospermum etythrorhyzon, was recently reported to exert beneficial anti-inflammatory effects both in vivo and in vitro. The present study aimed to investigate the potential therapeutic effect of shikonin in a murine model of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced acute lung injury (ALI). Dexamethasone was used as a positive control to evaluate the anti-inflammatory effect of shikonin in the study. Pretreatment with shikonin (intraperitoneal injection) significantly inhibited LPS-induced increases in the macrophage and neutrophil infiltration of lung tissues and markedly attenuated myeloperoxidase activity. Furthermore, shikonin significantly reduced the concentrations of TNF-alpha, IL-6 and IL-1 beta in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid induced by LPS. Compared with the LPS group, lung histopathologic changes were less pronounced in the shikonin-pretreated mice. Additionally, Western blotting results showed that shikonin efficiently decreased nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappa B) activation by inhibiting the degradation and phosphorylation of I kappa B alpha. These results suggest that shikonin exerts anti-inflammatory properties in LPS-mediated ALI, possibly through inhibition of the NF-kappa B signaling pathway, which mediates the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Shikonin may be a potential agent for the prophylaxis of ALI. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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