Expression of peroxisome proliferation activated receptor-α in lung of rats with acute lung injury induced by lipopolysaccharide

AIM: To investigate the expression and role of PPARα in lung of rats stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). METHODS: 40 male Wistar rats were divided randomly into five groups: one group were injected with saline (control group), others were killed 1 h, 2 h, 4 h and 8 h after LPS (5 mg/kg) injection, respectively (1 h group, 2 h group, 4 h group and 8 h group). The ratio of lung wet-dry weight was measured. Semi-quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunohistochemical method were used to measure expression of PPARα mRNA and PPARα protein in the lung. RESULTS: The ratio of lung wet-dry weight in LPS 2h, 4h and 8h groups were significantly higher than those in control group (P0.01). Expression of PPARα mRNA (A) in LPS 2h and LPS 4h groups were significantly lower than those in control group (all P 0.01) and PPARα (A) in LPS 4h and LPS 8h groups were significantly lower than those in control group (all P0.05). CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that expression of PPARα decreases in lungs of ALI rats' and PPARα may play a major role in acute lung injury.