Mitra A, Rahmawati L, Lee HP, Kim SA, Han CK, Hyun SH, Cho JY. Korean red ginseng water extract inhibits cadmium-induced lung injury via suppressing MAPK/ERK1/2/AP-1 pathway.
J Ginseng Res 2022;
46:690-699. [PMID:
36090678 PMCID:
PMC9459071 DOI:
10.1016/j.jgr.2022.04.003]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2022] [Revised: 04/05/2022] [Accepted: 04/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
Background
Few studies reported the therapeutic effect of Korean Red Ginseng (KRG) in lung inflammatory diseases. However, the anti-inflammatory role and underlying molecular in cadmium-induced lung injury have been poorly understood, directly linked to chronic lung diseases (CLDs): chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cancer etc. Therefore, in this study we aim to investigate the therapeutic activities of water extract of KRG (KRG-WE) in mouse cadmium-induced lung injury model.
Method
The anti-inflammatory roles and underlying mechanisms of KRG-WE were evaluated in vitro under cadmium-stimulated lung epithelial cells (A549) and HEK293T cell line and in vivo in cadmium-induced lung injury mouse model using semi-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR), luciferase assay, immunoblotting, and FACS.
Results
KRG-WE strongly ameliorated the symptoms of CdSO4-induced lung injury in mice according to total cell number in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and severity scores as well as cytokine levels. KRG-WE significantly suppressed the upregulation of inflammatory signaling comprising mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) and their upstream enzymes. In in vitro study, KRG-WE suppressed expression of interleukin (IL)-6, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2, and IL-8 while promoting recovery in CdSO4-treated A549 cells. Similarly, KRG-WE reduced phosphorylation of MAPK and c-Jun/c-Fos in cadmium-exposed A549 cells.
Conclusion
KRG-WE was found to attenuate symptoms of cadmium-induced lung injury and reduce the expression of inflammatory genes by suppression of MAPK/AP-1-mediated pathway.
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