Eriodictyol, a plant flavonoid, attenuates LPS-induced acute lung injury through its antioxidative and anti-inflammatory activity

Acute lung injury (ALI) is characterized by excessive inflammatory responses and oxidative injury in the lung tissue. It has been suggested that anti-inflammatory or antioxidative agents could have therapeutic effects in ALI, and eriodictyol has been reported to exhibit antioxidative and anti-inflammatory activity in vitro. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of eriodictyol on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced ALI in a mouse model. The mice were divided into four groups: Phosphate-buffered saline-treated healthy control, LPS-induced ALI, vehicle-treated ALI (LPS + vehicle) and eriodictyol-treated ALI (LPS + eriodictyol). Eriodictyol (30 mg/kg) was administered orally once, 2 days before the induction of ALI. The data showed that eriodictyol pretreatment attenuated LPS-induced ALI through its antioxidative and anti-inflammatory activity. Furthermore, the eriodictyol pretreatment activated the nuclear factor erythroid-2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) pathway in the ALI mouse model, which attenuated the oxidative injury and inhibited the inflammatory cytokine expression in macrophages. In combination, the results of the present study demonstrated that eriodictyol could alleviate the LPS-induced lung injury in mice by regulating the Nrf2 pathway and inhibiting the expression of inflammatory cytokines in macrophages, suggesting that eriodictyol could be used as a potential drug for the treatment of LPS-induced lung injury.