Shenmai injection alleviates acute lung injury in a severe acute pancreatitis rat model via heme oxygenase-1 upregulation

Abstract

Objective To determine the effect of Shenmai injection (SMI) on acute lung injury (ALI) induced by severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) in rats. Methods 40 male SD (Sprague-Dawley) rats were grouped into 4 categories: SAP group, sham surgery (SS) group, SAP + SMI group, SAP + SMI + Zinc protoporphyrin (ZnPP) group. 30 minutes after induction of SAP, the SAP group rats were intravenously injected with 1.6 ml/kg saline, the SAP + SMI group rats were intravenously injected with 1.6 ml/kg SMI, while the SAP + SMI + ZnPP group rats were intravenously injected with 1.6 ml/kg SMI and 30 mg/kg ZnPP via intraperitoneal injection. 24 hours after SAP induction, the rats were sacrificed. Histological evaluation of the lung tissues, protein concentration in BALF and lung wet-to-dry (W/D) weight ratio were determined and analyzed. Blood and tissue samples were also collected to determine the levels of protein expression and mRNA of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) -α, HO-1 and interleukin (IL) -10. Results Compared to the SAP group, SAP-induced ALI was significantly attenuated by SMI treatment and had a lower score of lung damage severity ( p <0.05). SMI significantly attenuated the SAP-induced rise in BALF and W/D ratio protein concentrations ( p <0.05). The SMI treatment resulted in a statistically significant increase of HO-1, IL-10 levels and a significant reduction of TNF-α level in both serum and tissue samples ( p <0.05). However, inhibition of HO-1 expression by ZnPP led to significant inhibition of all the changes. Conclusions SMI can alleviate SAP-induced ALI through HO-1 upregulation.