Protective effect of taraxasterol on acute lung injury induced by lipopolysaccharide in mice

Taraxasterol, a pentacyclic-triterpene isolated from Taraxacum officinale, has been reported to have potent anti-inflammatory properties. However, the effect of taraxasterol on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced mice acute lung injury has not been investigated. The aims of this study were to investigate whether taraxasterol could ameliorate the inflammation response in LPS-induced acute lung injury and to clarify the possible mechanism. Male BALB/c mice were pretreated with taraxasterol 1 h before intranasal instillation of LPS. 7 h after LPS administration, the myeloperoxidase (MPO) in lung tissues, lung wet/dry ratio and inflammatory cells in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were detected. The levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1β (IL-1β) in the BALF were measured by ELISA. The extent of phosphorylation of IκB-α, p65 NF-κB, p46–p54 JNK, p42–p44 ERK, and p38 were determined by western blotting. The results showed that taraxasterol attenuated the infiltration of inflammatory cells, the activity of myeloperoxidase (MPO), lung wet/dry ratio, and the expression of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) in a dose-dependent manner. Additionally, western blotting results showed that taraxasterol inhibited the phosphorylation of IκB-α, p65 NF-κB, p46–p54 JNK, p42–p44 ERK, and p38 caused by LPS. Our data suggest that anti-inflammatory effects of taraxasterol against the LPS-induced ALI may be due to its ability of inhibition of the NF-κB and MAPK signaling pathways.