Effects of tetrandrine on release of tumor necrosis factor from the alveolar macrophage in rats of the bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis

Aim: To observe consecutively the effects of tetrandrine(Tet) on the total and differential cell count in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) as well as the release of tumor necrosis factor α(TNF α) from alveolar macrophage (AM) in bleomycin induced pulmonary fibrosis in rats. The mechanism of tetrandrine(Tet) treating pulmonary fibrosis was investigated. Methods:Pulmonary fibrosis models were made with 40 SD rats by intratracheal injection of bleomycin A 5 and allocated into 2 groups randomly, untreated model group ( n =24) and Ted group( n =24). Other eight rats were control group. Both model group and Ted group were put to death on the 3 th, 7 th, 14 th, 28 th day. Bronchoalveolar lavage were collected and the total and differential cells were counted, ELISA was applied for TNF α quantitation. Results: The total cell count and TNF α release from AM in model group were significantly increased compared with control group ( P 0.05, P 0.01) while these in Tet group were significantly decreased compared with model group ( P 0.05, P 0.01 ). Conclusion:It may be one of main mechanisms of Tet treating pulmonary fibrosis in experimental rats by inhibiting the release of TNF α.