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Updated: May 13, 2026

Inducing Acute Lung Injury in Mice by Direct Intratracheal Lipopolysaccharide Instillation
Published on: July 6, 2019
Protective effect of gossypol on lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury in mice
Zhicheng Liu1, Zhengtao Yang, Yunhe Fu
1Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Jilin University, Changchun 130062, Jilin, People's Republic of China.
Objective:
Gossypol has been reported to have anti-inflammatory properties. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of gossypol on acute lung injury (ALI) induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in mice.
Methods:
Male BALB/c mice were pretreated with gossypol 1 h before intranasal instillation of LPS. Then, 7 h after LPS administration, the myeloperoxidase in histology of lungs, lung wet/dry ratio and inflammatory cells in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were determined. The levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) in the BALF were measured by ELISA. The extent of phosphorylation of IκB-α, p65 NF-κB, p46-p54 JNK, p42-p44 ERK, and p38 were detected by western blot.
Results:
Gossypol markedly attenuated the LPS-induced histological alterations in the lung and inhibited the production of TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6. Additionally, gossypol reduced the inflammatory cells in BALF, decreased the wet/dry ratio of lungs and inhibited the phosphorylation of IκB-α, p65 NF-κB, p46-p54 JNK, p42-p44 ERK, and p38 caused by LPS.
Conclusion:
The data suggest that anti-inflammatory effects of gossypol against the LPS-induced ALI may be due to its ability of inhibition of the NF-κB and MAPKs signaling pathways. Gossypol may be a promising potential therapeutic reagent for ALI treatment.

