Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica 2005;40(3):231-235

Effect of epigallocatechingallate on acute lung injury induced by oleic acid in mice.

Guang-lin XU 1 ; Lin YAO ; Shu-qin YU ; Dan BU ; Yan-fei WANG ; Zhu-nan GONG ; Shuang-quan ZHANG

Affiliations

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Country

China

Language

Chinese

MeSH

Abstract

AIMTo investigate the effect of epigallocatechingallate (EGCG) on acute lung injury induced by oleic acid in mice and the possible mechanism.

METHODSAcute lung injury was induced by oleic acid in mice. Light microscopy and electron microscopy were used to examine histological changes and lung index as well as wet to dry weight ratio was calculated. Serum TNF-a level was measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and the phosphorylation of p38 MAPK was determined by Western blotting.

RESULTSPretreatment of EGCG significantly alleviated oleic acid induced lung injury accompanied by reduction of lung index and wet to dry weight ratio, decreased of TNF-a level in serum and inhibition of phosphorylation of p38 MAPK.

CONCLUSIONEGCG showed beneficial effect on acute lung injury induced by oleic acid in mice. The ultimate reduction of TNF-alpha in serum caused by inhibition of phosphorylated p38 MAPK is involved in the mechanism of action of EGCG.