Jujuboside B post-treatment attenuates PM_2.5-induced lung injury in mice

ABSTRACT

Fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) is an air pollutant that causes severe lung injury. We investigated the effects of Jujuboside B (JB), a component of Zizyphi Spinosi Semen, on lung toxicity caused by PM_2.5, and we identified the mechanism of its protective effect. Lung injury in an animal model was induced by intratracheal administration of a PM_2.5 suspension. After 2 days of PM_2.5 pretreatment, mice were administered JB via the tail vein three times over a 2-day period. JB significantly reduced the histological lung damage as well as the lung wet/dry weight ratio. JB also considerably reduced PM_2.5-induced autophagy dysfunction, apoptosis, inflammatory cytokine levels, and the number of PM_2.5-induced lymphocytes in the bronchial alveolar fluid. We conclude that by regulating TLR2, 4-MyD88, and mTOR-autophagy pathways, JB exerts a protective effect on lung injury. Thus, JB can be used as a potential therapeutic agent for PM_2.5-induced lung damage.

KEYWORDS:

• Jujuboside B
• particulate matter
• lung toxicity
• TLR2
• 4-MyD88

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.