Lung injury is one of the leading causes of death in
sepsis.
Abietic acid (AA) has demonstrated anti-inflammatory and bacteriostatic properties. Herein, we established a mouse model of
sepsis by cecal
ligation and
puncture, and intraperitoneally injected AA to treat.
Lung injury was assessed by H&E staining and the
inflammation in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were assessed by counting the number of inflammatory cells and detecting the content of inflammatory factors. Meanwhile, we also designed to study the effect of AA on
lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammatory response and macrophage marker gene expression in RAW264.7 cells in vitro. In this study, we found that AA inhibited LPS-induced secretion of inflammatory mediators (IL-1β, TNF-α, IL-6 and MIP-2), and decreased the expression of M1 macrophage e markers (CD16 and iNOS) and p-p65
protein, while increased the expression of M2 macrophage markers (CD206 and Arg-1) in RAW264.7 cells in vitro. In vivo, the
therapy of AA not only rescued septic animals, but also attenuated
lung injury in
sepsis mice. Moreover, AA decreased the number of total cells, neutrophils and macrophages, the conceration of total
protein, and the levels of inflammatory mediators in BALF of
sepsis mice. Further, we found that AA inhibited M1 macrophage polarization and blocked nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB) pathway in BALF of
sepsis mice. In conclusion,
Abietic acid attenuates
sepsis-induced
lung injury, and its mechanism may be related to reducing
inflammation by inhibiting NF-κB signaling to inhibit M1 macrophage polarization.