Effects of curcumin pretreatment on pulmonary inflammatory response in lung injury induced by ischemia-reperfusion of hind limbs in rats

Objective To investigate the effects of curcumin pretreatment on pulmonary inflammatory response in lung injury induced by ischemia-reperfusion(I/R) of hind limbs in rats.Methods Sixty adult male SD rats were randomly divided into 5 groups(n=12,each): sham group;model group;three contents curcumin pretreatment groups received curcumin 50,100,200 mg·kg-1 respectively via intraperitoneal injection 2 h before ischemia.I/R of hind limbs was produced by occlusion of bilateral femoral arteries for 2 h followed by 3 h reperfusion in model and curcumin pretreatment groups.The animals were killed at the end of 3 h reperfusion and their lungs were immediately removed for determination of wet/dry weight(W/D) ratio,myeloperoxidase(MPO) activity,tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α) and interleukin-6(IL-6) content.The lung was also assessed for expression of nuclear factor-κB p65(NF-κB p65) protein using Western blot analysis.Results Lung W/D ratio,MPO activity,TNF-α and IL-6 content were significantly increased in model group as compared with sham group.Lung W/D ratio,MPO activity,TNF-α and IL-6 content were significantly attenuated in the curcumin pretreatment groups as compared with model group in a dose-dependent manner.The expression of NF-κB p65 protein was significantly lower in the curcumin pretreatment groups than in model group in a dose-dependent manner.Conclusion Curcumin pretreatment attenuates pulmonary inflammatory response caused by I/R of hind limbs in rats due to suppressing the activation of NF-κB and subsequent accumulation of neutrophils mediated by TNF-α and IL-6.