Protective effect of Xuebijing injection on lung injury in sepsis mice by regulating the HMGB1/TLR4/NF-κB pathway

Objective To investigate the protective effect of Xuebijing injection on lung injury in septic mice by regulating the high mobility group protein box 1 (HMGB1)/Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)/nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) pathway. Methods Male C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into control, model, low, medium and high dose of Xuebijing groups, negative control (NC) group, NC+model group, NC+high-dose of Xuebijing group, and HMGB1+ high-dose of Xuebijing group. A sepsis-induced lung injury model was established using cecal perforation. Before modeling, the mice were intravenously injected with NC lentivirus or HMGB1 lentivirus via the tail vein. On the day of modeling, the mice were intraperitoneally injected with Xuebijing injection (5, 10 and 15 mL/kg) twice a day for three consecutive days. Samples were collected and detected 24 h after the last administration. The pathological changes of lung tissue, wet weight (W)/dry weight (D), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), malondialdehyde (MDA) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) contents, the expression levels of Cleaved caspase-3, HMGB1, TLR4 and NF-κB were compared among all groups. Results Pathological changes of lung injury were observed in the model group, with increases in the levels of W/D, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, MDA, and expression of Cleaved caspase-3, HMGB1, TLR4, NF-κB, and decreased SOD content compared with the control group (P<0.05). In Xuebijing treatment groups, pathological changes in lung injury were alleviated, with lower levels of W/D, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, MDA and expression of Cleaved caspase-3, HMGB1, TLR4, NF-κB, and higher SOD content than the model group (P＜0.05). The HMGB1+high-dose of Xuebijing group showed aggravated lung injury pathology, with higher levels of W/D, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6 and MDA, and expression of Cleaved caspase-3, HMGB1, TLR4 and NF-κB, and lower SOD content than the NC+high-dose of Xuebijing group (P＜0.05). Conclusions Xuebijing injection has protective effect on lung injury in septic mice and alleviates inflammation, oxidative stress and apoptosis. The molecular mechanism related to this effect is the inhibition of HMGB1/TLR4/NF-κB pathway.