Lycium barbarum Polysaccharide and Chlorogenic Acid Ameliorate LPS-Induced Acute Lung Injury via the NF-κB Signaling...

Acute lung injury (ALI) is a life-threatening condition characterized by acute inflammatory damage to the alveolar epithelium and capillary endothelium, triggered by various pathological factors. Our previous study demonstrated the anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative effects of Lycium barbarum polysaccharide (LBP) and chlorogenic acid (CA) against lipopolysaccharides (LPS)-induced inflammatory response of NR8383 cells, while the current study further investigated the alleviating effect of LBP and CA against ALI through in-depth experiments. In vitro experiments identified potential targets (CASP3, KDR) and related pathways, while in mice with ALI induced by 5 mg/kg LPS, CA-LBP (CA:LBP = 1:7, L/M/H dose: 25/50/100 mg/kg) was administered for 14 consecutive days, which reversed weight loss, alleviated lung injury, suppressed MPO activity, reduced TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6 and MDA levels, enhanced SOD and GSH-Px activities, and mitigated NF-κB activation significantly. Data of molecular docking further confirmed that the CA-LBP complex can exert alleviating effects through suppressing the NF-κB signaling pathway. Taken together, the present work sheds light on the multi-target regulatory mechanism of CA-LBP against ALI.