Study on Effect of Tripholide on Heine Oxygenase-1 Expression in Guinea-pig Model of Bronchial Asthma

Objective:To explore the effect of tripholide on heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) expression in asthmatic guinea-pigs.Methods:Eighteen guinea-pigs were randomly divided into 3 groups,6 in each:(1)the normal group;(2)the asthma group:1 ml of 10% ovalbumin (OVA) solution was injected intraperitoneally once to induce allergy,after 2 weeks,1% OVA aerosol was given daily to induce asthma attack for 1 week;(3) The tripholide group:asthma attack was induced by the same method as in the asthma group,and 100 μg/kg tripholide was injected intraperitoneally after asthma induction.The blood carbon monoxide hemoglobin (COHb) content,eosinophilic infiltration in airway wall were observed and HO-1 expression in lung tissue was detected by immunohistochemical staining.Results: HO-1 expression mainly presented on epithelial cells of airway,the optical density in the 3 groups was 0.032±0.004,0.123±0.011 and 0.082±0.009 respectively,which was significantly higher in the asthma group than that in the normal group and the tripholide group (all P0.01).Conclusion:Tripholide could inhibit the HO-1 expression in airway epithelium in asthmatic guinea-pigs signifi- cantly,which might be one of the mechanism of tripholide in treating asthma