Jordt S. TRPV4 inhibition counteracts edema and inflammation and improves pulmonary function and oxygen saturation in chemically induced acute lung injury. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 307: L158 -L172, 2014. First published May 16, 2014; doi:10.1152/ajplung.00065.2014.-The treatment of acute lung injury caused by exposure to reactive chemicals remains challenging because of the lack of mechanism-based therapeutic approaches. Recent studies have shown that transient receptor potential vanilloid 4 (TRPV4), an ion channel expressed in pulmonary tissues, is a crucial mediator of pressure-induced damage associated with ventilator-induced lung injury, heart failure, and infarction. Here, we examined the effects of two novel TRPV4 inhibitors in mice exposed to hydrochloric acid, mimicking acid exposure and acid aspiration injury, and to chlorine gas, a severe chemical threat with frequent exposures in domestic and occupational environments and in transportation accidents. Postexposure treatment with a TRPV4 inhibitor suppressed acid-induced pulmonary inflammation by diminishing neutrophils, macrophages, and associated chemokines and cytokines, while improving tissue pathology. These effects were recapitulated in TRPV4-deficient mice. TRPV4 inhibitors had similar anti-inflammatory effects in chlorine-exposed mice and inhibited vascular leakage, airway hyperreactivity, and increase in elastance, while improving blood oxygen saturation. In both models of lung injury we detected increased concentrations of N-acylamides, a class of endogenous TRP channel agonists. Taken together, we demonstrate that TRPV4 inhibitors are potent and efficacious countermeasures against severe chemical exposures, acting against exaggerated inflammatory responses, and protecting tissue barriers and cardiovascular function. acute lung injury; chlorine; TRPV4 ACUTE LUNG INJURY (ALI) and its extreme manifestation, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), are associated with high levels of morbidity and mortality (28, 37). Major triggers of ALI and ARDS are pneumonia, sepsis, trauma, acid aspiration, inhalation of toxic gases or smoke, hyperoxia, high pressure ventilation, heart failure, or pancreatitis. A major hallmark of ALI and ARDS is the acute increase in permeability of the pulmonary vascular and epithelial barriers, resulting in edema and severe hypoxia (9). ALI and ARDS are often associated with exaggerated inflammatory responses due to neutrophil infiltration and increased macrophage activity in the injured lung (14,22). These inflammatory cells may aggravate injury through protease production, through generation of oxidative reactive species and proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines, and through prevention of inflammation resolution.The ion channel transient receptor potential vanilloid 4 (TRPV4) was recently identified as a major mediator of pulmonary dysfunction in animal models of ventilator-and heart failure-induced ALI, conditions associated with dramatic increases in pulmonary and vascular pressure (17,33). Among other ...