The inhibitory effect of Yupingfengsan and Siwutang compound formula on inflammation and oxidative stress in COPD rats

Abstract

To investigate the potential roles of the traditional Chinese medicine Yupingfengsan and Siwutang compound formula (YS) in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) rats, wistar rats were assigned to control, YS-treated and COPD model groups. The COPD rats model were established by passive smoking and intratracheal instillation of lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Histological changes were detected by hematoxylin/eosin (HE) staining. Protein levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-6, transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 and phosphorylated-smad2 (psmad2) were determined by western blot assay. The activities of super oxide dismutase (SOD), glutathion peroxidase (GSH-Px) and the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) in the serum were estimated by biochemical methods. Relative mRNA levels of TNF-α, IL-6 and TGF-β1 were measured by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis. The results showed that YS enhanced the above oxidase activity and decreased the yield of MDA, and reduced the levels of TNF-α, IL-6, TGF-β1 and p-smad2 in YS-treated COPD rats compared with the COPD rats. Our results suggested that YS produced the beneficial effects in COPD rats by antiinflammatory and antioxidative actions. Moreover, our research indicated that YS produced antiinflammatory effects in COPD rats by inhibiting the expression of inflammatory cytokines, possibly through suppressing the TGF-β1/Smad2 signaling pathway.