Penehyclidine hydrochloride attenuates LPS-induced acute lung injury involvement of NF-κB pathway

To investigate the protective effects of penehyclidine hydrochloride (PHC) in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced acute lung injury (ALI) and the underlying molecular mechanism. ALI was induced by intravenous injection of LPS (5 mg/kg). Male Sprague–Dawley (SD) rats challenged with or without LPS were pretreated with varied doses of PHC 0.5 h before injection of LPS or saline. Blood gas in arterial blood, lung weight gain, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), and neutrophils sequestration were examined 6 h after administration of LPS. Pathological changes of lung tissue were measured by light microscopy. Phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) family and NF-κB were detected by western blot. All animals demonstrated drops in arterial oxygen tension (PaO2) after LPS application, which were significantly reversed by PHC pretreatment. Administration of PHC reduced lung water gain, bronchoalveolar lavage protein content, infiltration of neutrophils, malondialdehyde (MDA) content, and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity and enhanced superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity. Histopathological study also indicated that PHC treatment markedly attenuated lung histopathological changes, alveolar hemorrhage, and inflammatory cells infiltration with evidence of decreasing of myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity. Furthermore, p38MAPK, ERK, and NF-κB were activated in 6 h after LPS treatment, which could be blunted by PHC, while JNK remained unchanged. These findings confirmed significant protection by PHC against LPS-induced lung vascular leak and inflammation and implicated inhibition of p38MAPK activation signaling a potential role for PHC in the management of ALI.