Intermittent hypoxia increases ROS/HIF-1 α 'related oxidative stress and inflammation and worsens bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis in adult male C57BL/6J mice

This study found that pulmonary fibrosis in BLM + IH treated mice was more severe than that in BLM + IA group at day 8 and 21, but not observed at day 4. Besides, the expression of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α),which are related to hypoxia reduced oxidative stress and inflammation, were higher in BLM + IH treated mice than BLM + IA mice, and IH increased these indexes in BLM treated mice from day 4 to day 21. Interestingly, a positive linear correlation between the HIF-1α expression and hydroxyproline (HYP) content was observed. We further found some inflammatory cells in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid were increased significantly from day 4 to 21, and there was a positive correlation between inflammation and ROS expression. Our results demonstrated that IH aggravated BLM-induced pulmonary fibrosis, and ROS/HIF-1α related oxidative stress and inflammation involved. The increase of ROS/HIF-1α related oxidative stress and inflammation may be a potential mechanism of moderate-to-severe OSA in potentiating pulmonary fibrosis of IPF, which warrants further study.PMID:34560512 | DOI:10.1016/j.intimp.2021.108165
Source: International Immunopharmacology - Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: Source Type: research