Ameliorative Effect of Thymoquinone-Loaded PLGA Nanoparticles on Chronic Lung Injury Induced by Repetitive Intratracheal Instillation of Lipopolysaccharide in Rats

Table 2

Lesion scores of ultrastructure findings of pulmonary airways, blood vessels and alveoli in LPS-challenged rats and the ameliorative effect of TQ-PLGA NPs.

		Control	TQ-PLGA	LPS	LPS + TQ-PLGA	Control	TQ-PLGA	LPS	LPS + TQ-PLGA
		8 weeks				10 weeks
Airways (bronchi and bronchioles)	Submucosal inflammatory cells infiltrations	-	+	+++	++	-	-	+++	++
	Proliferated epithelium and goblet cells metaplasia	-	+	+++	++	-	-	+++	++
	Bronchostenosis	-	-	+++	++	-	-	+++	++
	Peribronchial plasma and fibroblast proliferation	-	+	+++	++	-	-	+++	++
	Hyperplasia and apoptosis of bronchial associated lymphoid tissues (BALT)	-	-	+++	++	-	-	+++	+
Pulmonary blood vessels	Endotheliosis	-	-	+++	+	-	-	+++	+
	Perivascular edema	-	-	+++	++	-	-	+++	++
	Hyperplasia of smooth muscles	-	-	+++	++	-	-	+++	+
Alveolar tissue (alveoli and blood-air barrier)	Hyperplasia and hypertrophy of pneumocytes I and II	-	+	+++	++	-	+	+++	++
	Activated alveolar macrophage	-	+	+++	++	-	+	+++	++
	Thickening of alveoli septal	-	+	+++	++	-	+	+++	+
	Atelectasis	-	-	+++	++	-	-	+++	+
	Chronic pneumonia	-	-	+++	+	-	-	+++	+
	Compensatory emphysema	-	+	+++	++	-	+	+++	++
Pulmonary septa	Thickening (inflammatory edema)	-	-	+++	++	-	-	+++	+

No. of examined fields (5 fields/rat). The severity of lesion was graded by estimating the percentage area affected in the entire section. -: absence of lesion, +: 5–25%, ++: 26–50%, and +++: ≥50%.