International immunopharmacology
-
Int. Immunopharmacol. · Nov 2012
The therapeutic efficacy of Ulinastatin for rats with smoking inhalation injury.
Smoke inhalation injury represents a major cause of mortality in burn patients and is associated with a high incidence of pulmonary complications. Ulinastatin (UTI) has been widely used as a drug for patients with severe burn, sepsis, severe acute pancreatitis, and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome. In view of the critical role of inflammatory response in pathogenesis of smoke inhalation-induced lung injury and the anti-inflammatory effects of UTI, we hypothesized that treatment with UTI could lessen smoke inhalation-induced lung injury. ⋯ In addition, UTI mitigated the inflammatory response, and further prevented the initiation of downstream inflammatory cascades: NF-κB and p-JNK. Importantly, UTI also mitigated smoke inhalation-induced pulmonary fibrosis as evidenced by Masson-Goldner trichrome staining with the content of hydroxyproline and collagens I and III. In conclusion, our data demonstrated that UTI protected rat against smoke inhalation-induced acute lung injury and the subsequent development of pulmonary fibrosis.