Methyl Protodioscin from the Roots of Asparagus cochinchinensis Attenuates Airway Inflammation by Inhibiting Cytokine Production

Figure 6

Inhibition of methyl protodioscin (MP) on LPS-induced airway inflammation in mice. (a) Effects on the cell numbers in BALF; LPS was administered to mice intranasally. Total cell numbers in the BALF were counted using haemocytometer. The BALF was obtained at 16 h after LPS treatment. DEX: dexamethasone; FACS was used to differentiate between each cell type of inflammation-related cells. (b) Effects on proinflammatory cytokine generation. All cytokine levels were examined using real-time RT-PCR analysis of the lung tissue. For TNF-α measurement, the lung tissue of the mice sacrificed at 4 h after LPS treatment was used while the lung tissue at 16 h after LPS treatment was used for measuring the levels of IL-1β and IL-6. (c) Histological observation of lung tissues (H&E staining) and quantitative analysis of alveolar wall area ( pixels). Here is represented one sample from five sets stained. ×100 (scale bar: 100 μm). Thickened alveolar wall and narrowed alveolar space were noted in the LPS-treated lung tissue (▼). Alveolar wall areas were quantitatively measured by ImageJ (NIH). , , and , significantly different from the LPS-treated group ().