Protective effects of sodium tanshinone sulphonate IIA on acute lung injury in rats

Objective To investigate the effect of sodium tanshinone sulphonate IIA on acute lung injury and its mechanism.Methods Forty-five male Wistar rats were randomly divided into three groups,including control group(NS group),acute lung injury group(LPS group) and sodium tanshinone sulphonate IIA group(STS group).The rats in LPS and STS groups were intravenously injected with LPS(5 mg / kg) to establish the ALl mode1.STS group was treated with STS(10mg / kg) before LPS,whereas NS group and LPS group were given equivalent volume normal saline.At 6,12,24h after ALI,which were divided into subgroup I、II、III,arterial blood gas analysis,lung tissue wet / dry weight ratio,lung histopathological changes were observed;TNF-α,IL-6and IL-10 were measured with ELISA.Results Compared with LPS group,PaO2 in STS group were significantly increased,whereas the ratio of wet / dry weight were decreased(P 0.05).The grading of pathologic damage of lung tissue was attenuated greatly.The level of TNF-α,IL-6 at 6,12 and 24h in STS group were significantly lower and the level of IL-10 was higher than that in ALI group(P 0.05).Conclusions The results suggested that sodium tanshinone sulphonate IIA may be useful in treating acute lung injury,whose mechanisms may decrease the expression of TNF-α、IL-6 and increase the expression of IL-10,as a result re-balance cytokines.