Effects of curcumin or dexamethasone on lung ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats

¹ Dept of Pulmonary Medicine, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, 180 Feng Lin Road, Shanghai, 200032, PR China
² Dept of Pathology, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, PR China

	Abstract

The present study aims at investigating potential effects of curcumin (CUR) and dexamethasone (DXM) on ischemia-reperfusion (IR) induced lung injury in rats.

Experimental rats were pretreated with a single intraperitoneal dose of vehicle, CUR (50mg·kg^-1 or 200mg·kg^-1) or DXM (5mg·kg^-1) 2 h before anaesthesia and subjected to left lung hilus clamping with 90 min ischemia followed by 4 h of reperfusion.

Pretreatment with CUR (200 mg·kg^-1) or DXM markedly attenuated IR-induced barrier disruption, lung oedema, tissue inflammation, hypoxemia at 4 h after reperfusion, and oveactivation of NF-B, inflammatory cytokines, MPO and malondialdehyde.

It seems that CUR attenuates acute lung injury probably through improving oxidative stress and inhibiting NF-B-mediated expression of inflammatory cytokines. Thus, CUR may be an alternative therapy for improving the outcomes of IR induced lung injury.

Keywords:  Curcumin, ischemia-reperfusion (IR), lung, microvascular permeability, NF-B, oxidative stress