An optimal medicinal and edible Chinese herbal formula attenuates particulate matter-induced lung injury through its anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptosis activities

Huan Zhang; Jun Kang; Wuyan Guo; Fujie Wang; Mengjiao Guo; Shanshan Feng; Wuai Zhou; Jinnan Li; Ayesha T Tahir; Shaoshan Wang; Xinjun Du; Hui Zhao; Weihua Wang; Hong Zhu; Bo Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.chmed.2022.08.003

An optimal medicinal and edible Chinese herbal formula attenuates particulate matter-induced lung injury through its anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptosis activities

Chin Herb Med. 2022 Oct 14;15(3):407-420. doi: 10.1016/j.chmed.2022.08.003. eCollection 2023 Jul.

Authors

Huan Zhang¹, Jun Kang², Wuyan Guo¹, Fujie Wang³, Mengjiao Guo¹, Shanshan Feng¹, Wuai Zhou⁴, Jinnan Li¹, Ayesha T Tahir⁵, Shaoshan Wang⁶, Xinjun Du⁷, Hui Zhao⁸, Weihua Wang⁹, Hong Zhu¹⁰, Bo Zhang¹

Affiliations

¹ TCM Network Pharmacology Department, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Early Druggability Evaluation of Innovative Drugs, Tianjin International Joint Academy of Biomedicine, Tianjin 300457, China.
² School of Life Sciences, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China.
³ Chunfeng (Beijing) Health Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing 100176, China.
⁴ Institute for TCM-X, MOE Key Laboratory of Bioinformatics, Bioinformatics Division, BNRist, Department of Automation, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
⁵ Department of Biosciences, COMSAS University Islamabad, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan.
⁶ Tianjin Binhai New Area Han Gu Traditional Chinese Medical Hospitals, Tianjin 300480, China.
⁷ Key Laboratory of Food Nutrition and Safety, Ministry of Education, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin 300457, China.
⁸ School of Biotechnology and Food Science, Tianjin University of Commerce, Tianjin 300134, China.
⁹ Center of Pharmaceutical Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
¹⁰ Beijing Intelligent Medicine and Network Pharmacology Co., Ltd, Beijng 100020, China.

Abstract

Objective: Identifying novel strategies to prevent particulate matter (PM)-induced lung injury is crucial for the reduction of the morbidity of chronic respiratory diseases. The combined intervention represented by herbal formulae for simultaneously targeting multiple pathological processes can provide a more beneficial effect than the single intervention. The aim of this paper is therefore to design a safe and effective medicinal and edible Chinese herbs (MECHs) formula against PM-induced lung injury.

Methods: PM-induced oxidative stress, inflammatory response and apoptosis A549 cell model were used to screen anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic MECHs, respectively. A network pharmacology method was utilized to rationally design a novel herbal formula. Ultra performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometer was utilized to assess the quality control of MECHs formula. The excretion of magnetic iron oxide nanospheres of the MECHs formula was estimated in zebrafish. The MECH formula against PM-induced lung injury was investigated with mice experiments.

Results: Five selected herbs were rationally designed to form a new MECH formula, including Citri Exocarpium Rubrum (Juhong), Lablab Semen Album (Baibiandou), Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma (Baizhu), Mori Folium (Sangye) and Polygonati Odorati Rhizoma (Yuzhu). The formula effectively promoted the magnetic iron oxide nanospheres excretion in zebrafish. The mid/high dose formula significantly prevented PM-induced lung damage in mice by enhancing the activity of SOD and GSH-Px, reducing the MDA and ROS level and attenuating the upregulation of pro-inflammatory cytokine (IL-6, IL-8, IL-1β and TNF-α), down regulating the protein expression of NF-κB, STAT3 and Caspase-3.

Conclusion: Our findings suggest that the effective MECHs formula will become a novel strategy for preventing PM-induced lung injury and provide a paradigm for the development of functional foods using MECHs.

Keywords: apoptosis; inflammatory response; lung injury; medicinal and edible Chinese herbs; oxidative stress; particulate matter.