Acute lung injury (ALI) is a kind of lung disease with acute dyspnea, pulmonary inflammation, respiratory distress, and non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema, accompanied by the mid- and end-stage characteristics of COVID-19, clinically. It is imperative to find non-toxic natural substances on preventing ALI and its complications. The animal experiments demonstrated that Lentinus edodes polysaccharides (PLE) had a potential role in alleviating ALI by inhibiting oxidative stress and inflammation, which was manifested by reducing the levels of serum lung injury indicators (C3, hs-CRP, and GGT), reducing the levels of inflammatory factors (TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6), and increasing the activities of antioxidant enzymes (SOD and CAT) in the lung. Furthermore, PLE had the typical characteristics of pyran-type linked by β-type glycosidic linkages. The conclusions indicated that PLE could be used as functional foods and natural drugs in preventing ALI.
Keywords: Lentinula edodes polysaccharides; acute lung injury; anti-inflammatory; antioxidant activities; pulmonary protection.