Abstract

Background: In this study, we evaluated the anti-inflammatory effect of PM014 on cigarette smoke induced lung disease in the murine animal model of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).Methods: Mice were exposed to cigarette smoke (CS) for 2 weeks to induce COPD-like lung inflammation. Two hours prior to cigarette smoke exposure, the treatment group was administered PM014 via an oral injection. To investigate the effects of PM014, we assessed PM014 functions in vivo, including immune cell infiltration, cytokine profiles in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid and histopathological changes in the lung. The efficacy of PM014 was compared with that of the recently developed anti-COPD drug, roflumilast.Results: PM014 substantially inhibited immune cell infiltration (neutrophils, macrophages, and lymphocytes) into the airway. In addition, IL-6, TNF-α and MCP-1 were decreased in the BAL fluid of PM014-treated mice compared to cigarette smoke stimulated mice. These changes were more prominent than roflumilast treated mice. The expression of PAS-positive cells in the bronchial layer was also significantly reduced in both PM014 and roflumilast treated mice.Conclusions: These data suggest that PM014 exerts strong therapeutic effects against CS induced, COPD-like lung inflammation. Therefore, this herbal medicine may represent a novel therapeutic agent for lung inflammation in general, as well as a specific agent for COPD treatment. © 2013 Jung et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

Author keywords

COPD; CS; IL-6; MCP-1; Neutrophil; PM014; TNF-α

Indexed keywords

EMTREE drug terms: antiinflammatory agent; cigarette smoke; herbaceous agent; interleukin 6; monocyte chemotactic protein 1; PM014; roflumilast; tumor necrosis factor alpha; unclassified drug

EMTREE medical terms: airway; animal experiment; animal model; animal tissue; antiinflammatory activity; article; cell infiltration; chronic obstructive lung disease; controlled study; female; herbal medicine; histopathology; immunocompetent cell; lung lavage; lung parenchyma; lymphocyte; macrophage; mouse; neutrophil; nonhuman; pneumonia

MeSH: Animals; Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid; Chemokine CCL2; Female; Goblet Cells; Hyperplasia; Interleukin-6; Lung; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Plant Extracts; Pneumonia; Protective Agents; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive; Smoke; Tobacco; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha
Medline is the source for the MeSH terms of this document.

Chemicals and CAS Registry Numbers: roflumilast, 162401-32-3