, is a dietary polyphenol that has been reported to possess antiinflammatory and antioxidant properties. The effect of curcumin against the development of pulmonary emphysema in animal models is unknown. The aim of this study was to determine whether curcumin is able to attenuate the development of pulmonary emphysema in mice. Nine-week-old male C57BL/6J mice were treated with intratracheal porcine pancreatic elastase (PPE) or exposed to mainstream cigarette smoke (CS) (60 min/day for 10 consecutive days or 5 days/wk for 12 wk) to induce pulmonary inflammation and emphysema. Curcumin (100 mg/kg) or vehicle was administrated daily by oral gavage 1 h and 24 h before intratracheal PPE treatment and daily thereafter throughout a 21-day period in PPE-exposed mice and 1 h before each CS exposure in CS-exposed mice. As a result, curcumin treatment significantly inhibited PPE-induced increase of neutrophils in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid at 6 h and on day 1 after PPE administration, with an increase in antioxidant gene expression at 6 h and significantly attenuated PPE-induced air space enlargement on day 21. It was also found that curcumin treatment significantly inhibited CS-induced increase of neutrophils and macrophages in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid after 10 consecutive days of CS exposure and significantly attenuated CS-induced air space enlargement after 12 wk of CS exposure. In conclusion, oral curcumin administration attenuated PPE-and CS-induced pulmonary inflammation and emphysema in mice.anti-inflammation; antioxidant; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; polyphenol CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY disease (COPD) is characterized by airflow limitation that is not fully reversible; pulmonary emphysema is an important phenotype of COPD (33). COPD is a major public health problem that is the fifth leading cause of death worldwide, and its prevalence is expected to increase in the next few decades (34). Although the molecular and cellular mechanisms that are responsible for the development of COPD are not fully understood, chronic inflammation and oxidative stress in the lungs are believed to be key components of the pathogenesis of COPD and/or emphysema (38). Because there is no current effective drug therapy that prevents the progression of airflow limitation and/or emphysema, new anti-inflammatory and antioxidant therapeutic strategies are needed.We and others recently reported that NF-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), a key antioxidant transcriptional factor, and some Nrf2 target antioxidant enzymes were decreased in the lungs of patients with COPD and/or emphysema (15, 25), and especially in macrophages (50). It has been also reported that Nrf2-deficient mice are highly susceptible to oxidative stress and reactive electrophiles; severe emphysema develops when the mice are exposed to cigarette smoke (CS) or elastase (16,17,39). We also found (1) that immortalized murine Clara cells (C22) with depleted Nrf2 showed a decrease in the expression of several antioxidant genes and were much more susceptible to CS-induce...

BackgroundCatalase is preferentially expressed in bronchiolar and alveolar epithelial cells, and acts as an endogenous antioxidant enzyme in normal lungs. We thus postulated epithelial damage would be associated with a functional deficiency of catalase during the development of lung fibrosis.MethodsThe present study evaluates the expression of catalase mRNA and protein in human interstitial pneumonias and in mouse bleomycin-induced lung injury. We examined the degree of bleomycin-induced inflammation and fibrosis in the mice with lowered catalase activity.ResultsIn humans, catalase was decreased at the levels of activity, protein content and mRNA expression in fibrotic lungs (n = 12) compared to control lungs (n = 10). Immunohistochemistry revealed a decrease in catalase in bronchiolar epithelium and abnormal re-epithelialization in fibrotic areas. In C57BL/6J mice, catalase activity was suppressed along with downregulation of catalase mRNA in whole lung homogenates after bleomycin administration. In acatalasemic mice, neutrophilic inflammation was prolonged until 14 days, and there was a higher degree of lung fibrosis in association with a higher level of transforming growth factor-β expression and total collagen content following bleomycin treatment compared to wild-type mice.ConclusionsTaken together, these findings demonstrate diminished catalase expression and activity in human pulmonary fibrosis and suggest the protective role of catalase against bleomycin-induced inflammation and subsequent fibrosis.

Cigarette smoking and aging are major risk factors for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. An unsolved question is whether elderly lungs are particularly vulnerable to cigarette smoke (CS) exposure. In this study, we used a mouse model to test the hypothesis that aging increases the susceptibility to CS-induced pulmonary inflammation. We subjected 9-week-old and 69-week-old C57BL/6J mice to CS (whole-body exposure, 90 min/d), and evaluated neutrophil infiltration in the lungs, the levels of keratinocyte-derived chemokine (KC) and macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-2 in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, and mRNA expression in bronchiolar epithelium retrieved by laser capture microdissection. The 69-week-old mice showed a greater number of neutrophils and higher levels of bronchiolar KC and MIP-2 expression than 9-week-old mice after 9 days of CS exposure. Furthermore, single CS exposure induced the rapid up-regulation of KC and MIP-2 in bronchiolar epithelium in both 9-week-old and 69-week-old mice, and the much higher levels in 69-week-old mice were associated with greater nuclear translocation of NF-kappaB. In contrast, no age-related differences were observed in the bronchiolar expression of NF-E2-related factor 2-regulated antioxidant and detoxification genes, heme oxygenase-1, reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate quinone reductase 1, and glutamate-cysteine ligase, modifier unit, or antioxidant activity in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, regardless of CS exposure. In summary, aging increases susceptibility to CS-induced inflammation in a mouse model, and robust mRNA up-regulation and nuclear translocation of NF-kappaB in bronchiolar epithelium may be involved.

Lung injuries are generally more serious and cause high mortality in aged humans and animals. Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) is known to be readily inducible in alveolar macrophages (AMs) and airway epithelial cells to confer cytoprotection against oxidative stress. We thus investigated whether aging impairs the stress-induced upregulation of HO-1. In this study, we first quantified basal levels of HO-1 expression in lungs from male ICR mice of various ages. Second, young (9-11 weeks) and old (65-66 weeks) mice were subjected to intratracheal administration of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and expression of HO-1 in the lungs was quantified at 2, 24 and 72 h. HO-1 expression in bronchiolar epithelial cells harvested by laser capture microdissection (LCM) was also specifically quantified in the two age groups. Third, we examined HO-1 expression in AMs lavaged from 22-week-old and 86-96-week-old male ICR mice in response to LPS for 24 h in vitro. We found that basal expression of HO-1 in the lungs did not differ with age. LPS-induced HO-1 upregulation was significantly impaired in the lungs of 65-66-week-old mice than in 9-11-week-old mice at 2 and 24 h, although there were no differences in the magnitude of HO-1 upregulation in bronchiolar epithelium at 2 h. LPS-induced upregulation of HO-1 was observed in AMs from 22-week-old mice (1.8-fold), but not in AMs from 86-96-week-old mice in vitro. In summary, we demonstrated age-related defects in HO-1 induction in the whole lungs and in AMs in response to LPS.

Background.Case. Conclusion.JJLC.