Paraquat-induced pulmonary fibrosis involves two factors, direct injury by oxygen free radicals and indirect injury by inflammatory
cells and fibroblasts. Endothelin-1 (ET-1) has been shown to act as a mediator of pulmonary fibrosis, and its formation increases
during oxidative stress. We investigated whether green tea extract (GTE), which has antioxidant properties, inhibits paraquat-induced
pulmonary fibrosis and whether ET-1 is involved in this process. Paraquat (0.3 mg/kg) was instilled into the right lungs of
rats, following which the rats were either not further treated (Group P,
n = 7), or they were administered 1% GTE mixed with feed (Group PG;
n = 7) or the ET
A receptor antagonist ZD2574 (10 mg/kg through gavage; Group PZ;
n = 7) for two weeks. As control, we used rats instilled with saline (Group N;
n = 6). Two weeks after paraquat instillation, we assayed the degree of pulmonary fibrosis by light microscopic morphometry
and hydroxyproline content; lipid peroxidation as a marker of oxidative stresses by measurement of malondialdehyde (MDA);
ET-1 by immunohistochemistry; and prepro-ET-1 mRNA expression by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Compared
with Group N, significant pulmonary fibrosis was observed in Group P, accompanied by increases in MDA, ET-1, and prepro-ET-1
mRNA expression. Compared with Group P, Group PG showed significant decreases in pulmonary fibrosis, along with decreases
in MDA, ET-1, and prepro-ET-1 mRNA expression. We also observed significant decreases in pulmonary fibrosis in Group PZ compared
with Group P. These findings suggest that GTE inhibits paraquat-induced pulmonary fibrosis by suppression of oxidative stress
and ET-1 expression.
Keywords Paraquat - Pulmonary fibrosis - Green tea extract - ET-1 - Oxidative stress
Hak-Ryul Kim and Byung-Kyu Park contributed equally to this work.