ABSTRACT
ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Aconitum tanguticum has been widely used as a remedy for infectious diseases in traditional Tibetan medicine in China. The total alkaloids of Aconitum tanguticum (TAA) are the main active components of Aconitum tanguticum and have been demonstrated to be effective in suppressing inflammation. Our aim was to investigate the protective effects of TAA on acute lung injury (ALI) induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS: TAA was extracted in 95% ethanol and purified in chloroform. After vacuum drying, the TAA powder was dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into six groups. Rats were given dexamethasone (DXM, 4 mg/kg) or TAA (60 mg/kg, 30 mg/kg) before LPS injection. The PaO2and PaO2/FiO2 values, lung wet/dry (W/D) weight ratio and histological changes in lung tissue were measured. The cell counts, protein concentration, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß) in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), and myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity in lung tissue were determined at 6, 12 or 24 h after LPS treatment. In addition, the NF-κ B activation in lung tissue was analyzed by western blot. RESULTS: In ALI rats, TAA significantly reduced the lung W/D ratio and increased the value of PaO2 or PaO2/FiO2 at 6, 12 or 24 h after LPS challenge. TAA also reduced the total protein concentration and the number of total cells, neutrophils or lymphocytes in BALF. In addition, TAA decreased MPO activity in the lung and attenuated histological changes in the lung. Furthermore, TAA inhibited the concentration of TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1ß in BALF at 6, 12 or 24 h after LPS treatment. Further study demonstrated that TAA significantly inhibited NF-κ B activation in lung tissue. CONCLUSIONS: The current study proved that TAA exhibited a potent protective effect on LPS-induced ALI in rats through its anti-inflammatory activity.
Subject(s)
Aconitum , Acute Lung Injury/drug therapy , Alkaloids/therapeutic use , Phytotherapy , Acute Lung Injury/chemically induced , Acute Lung Injury/metabolism , Acute Lung Injury/pathology , Animals , Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid/chemistry , Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid/cytology , Cytokines/metabolism , Leukocyte Count , Lipopolysaccharides , Lung/drug effects , Lung/metabolism , Lung/pathology , Male , Peroxidase/metabolism , Rats, Sprague-DawleyABSTRACT
Hypericum perforatum extract (HPE) has been proved a drug effective to many viral diseases. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the therapeutic efficacy and immuno-enhancement of HPE for chickens which were already challenged with infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV BC-6/85). Chickens infected with IBDV were treated with HPE for 5 consecutive days, the observation of immune organ indexes and pathological changes index, determination of IFN-α and detection of IBDV with RT-PCR were employed to assess in vivo whether or not HPE had the certain therapeutic efficacy on infectious bursal disease (IBD), and if HPE was able to improve the immunologic function. The results showed that 1330 and 667.9 mg/kg body weight (BW) per day of HPE had significant therapeutic efficacy and improvement immunologic functions for chickens infected experimentally with IBDV.
Subject(s)
Birnaviridae Infections/veterinary , Chickens , Hypericum/chemistry , Infectious bursal disease virus , Plant Extracts/therapeutic use , Poultry Diseases/drug therapy , Animals , Birnaviridae Infections/drug therapy , Birnaviridae Infections/immunology , Bursa of Fabricius/virology , Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes , Plant Extracts/chemistry , Poultry Diseases/virology , Primary Immunodeficiency Diseases , Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction , Spleen/abnormalities , Spleen/drug effects , Spleen/physiologyABSTRACT
NAS preparation, a kind of Chinese herbal medicine found by the Yunnan Eco-agricultural Research Institute, has potential antiviral activity. In this paper, the inhibiting effect of NAS preparation on H9N2 subtype Avian influenza virus (AIV) was investigated in vivo. Chickens infected with H9N2 virus were treated with NAS preparation for 4 days. The virus was then detected by hemoagglutination (HA) test and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The results showed that no H9N2 virus could be detected at the 7th day when the chickens were treated with 0.2 g/kg/d or 0.1 g/kg/d of NAS preparation. However the virus could be detected in other chickens without NAS preparation treatment. This result suggested that NAS preparation may be a potential drug candidate to control infection of H9N2 subtype AIV in chickens.