Effects of Cordyceps sinensis on reduced/oxidized glutathione balance and Thl/Th2 cytokine profiles in rat models of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Objective To investigate the effects of Cordyceps sinensis （C. sinensis） on reduced/oxidized glutathione imbalance and Thl/Th2 cytokiues in rat models with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease （COPD）. Methods A total of 18 Sprague-Dawley male rats was randomly assigned to receive normal saline （control group, n-~）, C. sinensis （C. sinensis intervention group, n=6） or N-acetylcysteine （NAC intervention group, n=6） feeding for determination of pathological changes in lung tissues. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid （BALF） was collected to determine the changes in Thl/Th2 cytokines and variation in reduced/oxidized glutathione within macrophages after interventions of C. sinensis and NAC. Results Both C. sinensis and NAC resulted in increased alveolar cell count and the ratio of reduced to oxidized glutathione within macrophages obtained from BALF as compared with the counterpart controls（49＋10 and 52＋14 vs 32＋13 ; t=3.06, t=3.24; t=2.36, t=2.82, all P〈0.05 ]. Higher levels of IFN-~/and Thl cytokine were found in BALF supernatant of C. sinensis and NAC intervention groups （t=2.34, t=2.32,both P〈0.05）. Conclusion C. sinensis may present immunomodulatory effects on Thl/Th2 imbalance via up-regulation of glutathione within macrophages in COPD models and supplementation of anti-oxidization capacity Key words: Pulmonary disease, chronic obstructive;  Cordyceps sinensis ;  N-Acetylcysteine; Cytokines;  Glutathione