Experimental Study of Effect of Yiqi Huoxue Recipe on the Serum and Pulmonary ET-1 Expression in the Iung Injury Induced by Thoracic Radiation of Rats

Objective To explore the changes of endothelin-1 in plasma and lung tissues,and the curative effect of Yiqi Huoxue Recipe(Chinese traditional medicine of nourishing qi and activating blood)in radiation-induced lung injury.Methods96 wistar rats were randomly divided into irradiation group,irradiation with Yiqi Huoxue Recipe-treated group,irradiation with ambroxol-treated group and normal control group.The first three groups were irradiated at right hemithorax by linear accelerator with a dose of 30 Gy 6 Fraction 5 weeks.Animals were followed up for 26 weeks after the first irradiation.The contents of ET-1 in plasma and lung tissues were measured by ELISA and immunoreactivity repectively at the end of the 4th,6th,8th,12th,and 26th week after the first irradiation.ResultsPulmonary edema and pneumonia aggravated gradually in C group,pulmonary edema and pneumonia of A and B group were lighter than C group,the ET-1 levels in plasma and lung tissues increased rapidly in C group,the ET-1 levels in plasma and lung tissues of A group were similar to that of B group(P0.05),and were both lower than C group(P0.05).ConclusionET-1 could reflect the degree of radiation lung injury.Yiqi Huoxue Recipe could degrade the levels of ET-1 in plasma and lung tissues significantly.This might be one of their mechanisms in treatment of radiation-induced lung injury.