Polysaccharides from Dendrobium officinale ameliorate colitis-induced lung injury via inhibiting inflammation and oxidative stress

It has been reported that Dendrobium officinale polysaccharides (DOPS) could alleviate colitis in animal model and suppress the activation of NLRP3 inflammasome and β-arrestin1 in vitro. However, it remains unclear whether DOPS has effect on protecting against colitis-induced pulmonary injury. The purpose of this study was to explore the protective effect and mechanism of DOPS on colitis-induced lung injury. A dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced mice colitis model and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated BEAS-2B cells model were applied in this study. The results showed that DOPS treatment restored histopathological changes, reduced inflammatory cells infiltration, pro-inflammatory cytokines levels, reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation and MDA generation, and increased anti-oxidative enzymes activities including SOD and GSH-Px in colitis mice. Further investigation showed that DOPS significantly inhibited the protein expression of TLR4, and apparently up-regulated proteins expressions of nuclear-Nrf2, HO-1 and NQO-1 in lung tissues of colitis mice and in BEAS-2B cells. These results indicated that DOPS significantly inhibited inflammation and oxidative stress to alleviate colitis-induced secondary lung injury, and its mechanisms are closely related to the inhibition of TLR4 signaling pathway and the activation of Nrf2 signaling pathway. DOPS may be a promising drug for alleviating colitis-induced lung injury.