The Pretreatment of Xiaoqinglong Decoction Alleviates Inflammation and Oxidative Damage and Up-Regulates Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 in Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Septic Acute Lung Injury Rats

Xiaoqinglong decoction (XQLD), a classic prescription of Traditional Chinese Medicine, has already been used clinically to cure acute lung injury (ALI), but its mechanism remains unclear. This subject aimed to explore the preventive role of XQLD in septic ALI rats besides its effects on angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE)2 and its downstream factors. After, respectively, administrated with different concentrations of XQLD (6.25 g/kg/d, 12.5 g/kg/d, 25 g/kg/d) for 5 days and dexamethasone (DEX, 1 mg/kg) for 0.5 h, the rat models of ALI were established by intraperitoneal injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 5 mg/kg) for 24 h. All rats were evaluated by lung function test, arterial blood gas analysis, morphological observation, lung wet/dry (W/D) ratio, and the lung injury score. The levels of malonaldehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), interleukin (IL)-1β, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and angiotensin (Ang) (1–7) in the lung were measured through biochemical and ELISA kits. The expressions of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE)2, mitochondrial assembly receptor (MasR), and nuclear factor (NF)-κB in lung tissue were detected by qRT-PCR and western blotting. Positive reaction cells of MasR were observed by immunohistochemistry. The results show that XQLD significantly ameliorated septic lung injury including edema and hemorrhage, as well as improved pulmonary function and arterial blood gas. Furthermore, XQLD markedly decreased the levels of IL-1β, TNF-α, MDA, and NF-κB while increased the levels of SOD, Ang (1–7), ACE2, and MasR in septic ALI rats. Pearson correlation showed that the expressions of ACE2 were inversely related to IL-1β, TNF-α, MDA, and NF-κB and positively correlated with SOD contents. Our data indicated that XQLD pretreatment alleviated inflammation and oxidative damage in septic ALI rats, which might be related to the up-regulation of ACE2-Ang (1–7)-MasR axis and inhibition of the NF-κB pathway.