Effect of a small natural dietary compound on lung pathology in airway inflammation

Background: Bronchodilators and corticosteroids reduce respiratory symptoms and exacerbations in diseases associated with airway inflammation but are ineffective in a subset of patients. There is a need to develop new and safe anti-inflammatories. Aim: To investigate whether a small natural dietary compound (SNDC) can attenuate inflammation in a model of acute lung injury, when delivered directly into the lung. Methods: SNDC was delivered in a model of acute lung injury (ALI) involving an i.n. sensitization with LPS (n=4 mice/group). Each group was subjected to a pulmonary function test (PFT) and immunohistochemistry for pro-inflammatory cytokines. It was hypothesised that the anti-inflammatory role of SNDC was mediated by dendritic cells (DC). To explore this, GMCSF induced Bone Marrow derived Dendritic Cells (BMDCs) were treated with LPS &/or SNDC and the cells analysed by flow cytometry. Results: LPS treatment of mice resulted in increased lung resistance, and this was significantly decreased (p Discussion: One of the causes of airway inflammation is exposure to Lipopolysaccharide (LPS-principal component of Gram negative bacteria) which activates the DCs into an inflammatory state. Our result show that airway constriction and distensibility of the lung is normalised with SNDC treatment and suggest this effect may be mediated by DC. Conclusion: SNDCs warrant exploration as potential future anti-inflammatory compounds to treat steroid resistant inflammatory lung diseases.