Zingerone attenuates lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury in mice

Zingerone, one of the active components of ginger, is a phenolic alkanone with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. In the present study, we analyzed the role of zingerone against RAW 264.7 cells and acute lung injury induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in mice. RAW cells or BALB/c mice were pretreated with zingerone one hour before stimulated with LPS. We found that zingerone significantly inhibited the production of LPS-induced proinflammatory cytokines in vitro and in vivo. When pretreated with zingerone, pulmonary histopathologic changes, as well as alveolar hemorrhage and neutrophil infiltration were substantially suppressed in lung tissues, with evidence of reduced myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity in murine acute lung injury model. The lung wet-to-dry weight (W/D) ratios, as the index of pulmonary edema, were markedly decreased by zingerone pretreatment. Furthermore, we demonstrated that zingerone attenuates the mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) and nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-κB) signaling pathways through blocking the phosphorylation of ERK, p38/MAPK and IκBα, NF-κB/P65. These results suggest that zingerone may provide protective effects against LPS-induced ALI.