Anti-asthma potential of crocin and its effect on MAPK signaling pathway in a murine model of allergic airway disease

Abstract

Context: Crocin, a diterpenoid glucoside, has multitudinous activities such as anti-inflammation, anti-allergy, anti-oxidation and relaxing smooth muscles.

Objective: In this study, the potential of crocin as an anti-asthma agent was investigated in a murine model.

Materials and methods: BALB/c mice were sensitized and challenged by ovalbumin (OVA) to induce allergic airway inflammation, with crocin administered one hour before every OVA challenge. Airway hyper-reactivity was evaluated by lung function analysis systems. Leukocyte counts in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were measured by a hemocytometer and Diff-Quick-stained smears. Lung tissues were stained with hematoxylin–eosin, Congo red and methylene blue for histopathological inspection. Inflammatory mediators in serum, BALF and lung were measured by ELISA or RT-PCR. Effects of crocin on MAPK signaling pathways were investigated by western blot analysis.

Results: Crocin significantly suppressed airway inflammation and hyper-reactivity, reduced levels of BALF interleukin (IL-4), IL-5, IL-13 and tryptase, lung eosinophil peroxidase and serum OVA-specific IgE, and inhibited the expression of lung eotaxin, p-ERK, p-JNK and p-p38 in the OVA-challenged mice.

Conclusions: These results demonstrated that the suppression of crocin on airway inflammation and hyper-reactivity in a murine model, thus crocin might have a great potential to be a candidate for the treatment of asthma.

• Airway inflammation
• airway hyper-reactivity
• asthma
• crocin
• Crocus sativus

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to all the participants in the study. We also feel indebted to Drs Wenjing Dai (Department of Respiratory Medicine, The First Hospital, HeFei, China), Qiang Du, Linfu Zhou (Department of Respiratory Medicine, Nanjing Provincial People's Hospital) for constructive comments.

Declaration of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.