Inula japonica ameliorated bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis via inhibiting soluble epoxide hydrolase.

Abstract

Pulmonary fibrosis is a progressive, irreversible, and fatal fibrotic lung disease with a high mortality and morbidity, and commonly nonresponsive to conventional therapy. Inula japonica Thunb. is a traditional Chinese medicine, known as "Xuan Fu Hua" in Chinese, and has been widely applied to relieve cough and dyspnea and eliminate retained phlegm with a long history. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the anti-fibrosis effect and action mechanism of I. japonica extract (IJE) for the treatment of bleomycin (BLM)-induced pulmonary fibrosis in mice. IJE treatment significantly restored BLM-induced alterations in body weight loss and lung function decline, decreased the collagen deposition induced by BLM in lung tissues, and inhibited fibrotic and inflammatory factors, such as α-SMA, TGF-β1, TNF-α, IL-6, COX-2, NF-κB, and GSK3β, in a dose-dependent manner. We found that IJE could enhance the concentration of 8,9-epoxyeicosatrienoic acid (8,9-EET) and decrease concentrations of 8,9-dihydroxyeicosatrienoic acid (8,9-DHET), 11,12-DHET, and 14,15-DHET in BLM-induced mice. Meanwhile, IJE suppressed protein and mRNA expression levels of soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH), and significantly displayed the inhibition of sEH activity with an IC50 value of 0.98 μg/mL. Our results indicated that IJE exerted remarkable anti-fibrosis effect on BLM-induced pulmonary fibrosis in mice via inhibiting sEH activity, resulting in the regulation of GSK3β signaling pathway. Our findings revealed the underlying action mechanism of I. japonica, and suggested that I. japonica could be regarded as a candidate resource for the treatment of pulmonary fibrosis.

• Authors: Wen-Yu Zhao, Zhi-Lin Luan, Tian-Tian Liu, Wen-Hua Ming, Xiao-Kui Huo, Hui-Lian Huang, Cheng-Peng Sun, Bao-Jing Zhang, Xiao-Chi Ma
• Journal: Bioorganic chemistry (Bioorg Chem) Vol. 102 Pg. 104065 (09 2020) ISSN: 1090-2120 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 32663670 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Chemical References

• Bleomycin
• Epoxide Hydrolases

Topics

• Animals
• Bleomycin (adverse effects)
• Epoxide Hydrolases (antagonists & inhibitors)
• Humans
• Inula (chemistry)
• Medicine, Chinese Traditional (methods)
• Mice
• Pulmonary Fibrosis (chemically induced, drug therapy)