Protective role of scutellarin on LPS induced - Acute lung injury and regulation of apoptosis, oxidative stress and reduction of mitochondrial dysfunction.

Lung fluid accumulation was determined using wet/dry lung mass ratio. Rats subjected to LPS-induced acute lung injury (2.8 ± 0.33, P < 0.05) presented with a significantly higher wet to dry lung weight ration ratio than sham rats (1.6 ± 0.23, P < 0.05). These results demonstrate that acutely inured rats' lungs were oedematous. On the other hand, treatment with scutellarin alone and in combination with a JNK inhibitor, SP600125, both significantly attenuated pulmonary edema as shown via reduced wet/dry lung mass ratios (1.7 ± 0.09 and 1.8 ± 0.23; P < 0.05, respectively). These results showed that the interventions were effective against LPS-induced edema of the lungs. However, the difference between treatment groups' weight ratios was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). In the sham control rats, the levels of ROS and SOD production were maintained at a low and at a high concentration, respectively (P < 0.05). However, following LPS infusion, the ROS levels skyrocketed while that of SOD decreased significantly relative to the control rats (P < 0.05). Furthermore, we noted that pre-treatment with scutellarin reduced the ROS levels in LPS-injured rats while the SOD was increased to near control levels (P < 0.05). Moreover, the combined effect of scutellarin and JNK inhibitor SP600125 on the levels of ROS and the SOD activity followed a similar trend to that of scutellarin alone albeit with a lower magnitude of change. Our results also showed that the combinatorial treatment was not significantly different from scutellarin alone in terms of influence on the levels of ROS production and SOD activity (P > 0.05). The effect of Scutellarin on broncho-alveolar lavage fluid (BALF) cytokine secretion The expression of interleukins-1β, -18 and -6 in the broncho-alveolar lavage fluid were significantly upregulated by LPS infusion (P < 0.05). The rise was, however, attenuated via pre-treatment with scutellarin only or in conjunction with SP600125, a JNK inhibitor (all P < 0.05). On the contrary, we observed that LPS injection caused a reduction of interlekins -4 and -10 secreted in the BALF. Pre-treatment with scutellarin alone (P < 0.05) and not in combination with SP600125 or SP600125 was able to significantly reverse this noted down-regulation (all P > 0.05).