Aerosol-administered alpha-tocopherol attenuates lung inflammation in rats given lipopolysaccharide intratracheally.

Intrapulmonary administration of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induces a well-characterized lung inflammatory response involving alveolar macrophage activation, proinflammatory cytokine elaboration, and neutrophil influx. Vitamin E, a lipophilic antioxidant consisting of a family that includes tocopherols and tocotrienols, has previously been shown to have a variety of anti-inflammatory effects, raising interest in its possible uses in disease prevention or therapy. Because aerosol delivery is a specific and rapid way to administer agents to the lungs, the authors undertook to determine whether inhaled vitamin E aerosols would have an anti-inflammatory effect in the lungs.

Transforming growth factor beta contributes to lung leak in rats given interleukin-1 intratracheally.

Interleukin-1 (IL-1) is increased in lung lavages obtained from patients with acute lung injury (ALI) and administering recombinant human IL-1alpha (rhIL-1alpha) (50 ng) intratracheally causes an acute, neutrophil-dependent, oxidative lung leak in rats that closely resembles human ALI. In the present work, the authors tested the hypothesis that transforming growth factor beta (TGFbeta) contributes to the lung inflammation and injury that develops in rats given IL-1 intratracheally. They found that intravenous administration of a monoclonal antibody to TGFbeta (1.