The protective effects of seabuckthorn (Hippophae Rhamnoides L.) Leaves extract on pm2.5-induced acute lung injury

Abstract

Background: Hippophae Rhamnoides L. (also known as Seabuckthorn SLE), a unique and valuable plant, has recently received worldwide attention. Due to its nutritional and medicinal properties, it has now been domesticated in several regions of the world from the Atlantic coast of Europe to Central Asia, Siberia, northwestern China, and northwestern Mongolia.16 The plant has been extensively used in Indian, Chinese, Tibetan, and Mongolian folk remedies for gastric ulcers, cough, circulatory disorders, skin diseases, asthma, cardiovascular diseases, lung disorders, and liver damage.

Materials and methods: Then, the mice model of ALI was induced by PM via intra-tracheally instilled with 50 mg/ kg body weight of Standard Reference Material1648a (SRM1648a), and SLE (12.5, 25, 50 mg/kg) were administered orally 1 h prior to PM. The efficacy and molecular mechanisms in the presence or absence of SLE were elucidated.

Results: Eleven main ingredients were detected in SLE and the contents of homoorientin and berberine were quantified. Additionally, the results demonstrated that SLE profoundly inhibited weight loss in mice and ameliorated lung pathological injury induced by PM. Furthermore, we also found that SLE. significantly decreased the lung wet-to-dry weight (W/D) ratios, reduced total protein in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), and effectively attenuated PM-induced increased leukocyte and macrophages in BALF. Meanwhile, SLE. could pronouncedly inhibit myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity in lung tissues, decreased the PM-induced inflammatory cytokines including tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β), reduced nitric oxide (NO) and increased superoxide dismutase (SOD) in BALF.

Conclusion: These findings indicated that SLE attenuated PM-induced ALI by suppressing the release of inflammatory cytokines.