Inhibition of MRP4 alleviates sepsis-induced acute lung injury in rats

Abstract This study was undertaken to examine the regulatory role of multidrug resistance-associated protein 4 (MRP4) in an experimental model of sepsis-induced acute lung injury in rats. Sepsis was induced by cecal ligation and puncture in anesthetized rats. Animals were then randomly assigned to receive intravenous injection of vehicle or MRP4 inhibitor (MK571, 20 mg/kg). The pathological changes were observed by hematoxylin and eosin staining. Lung water content, lung vascular permeability and inflammatory cell count in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were quantified. Serum tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels were measured. In addition, lung tissue cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) levels were examined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Furthermore, the effects of MRP4 knockdown on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced endothelial permeability and the cytoskeleton of rat pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (PMVECs) were detected. The protein expression levels of MRP4, Rac1, VE-cadherin, β-catenin and ZO-1 were measured by Western blot analysis. MK571 significantly reduced lung tissue damage, lung water content and lung vascular permeability. Lung tissue cAMP levels were attenuated in MK571-treated animals compared with vehicle controls. MK571 also decreased sepsis-induced inflammatory cell accumulation in BALF. In addition, the MK571 group had significantly lower serum TNF-α and IL-6 levels compared with vehicle controls. Consistently, knockdown of MRP4 protected against LPS-induced increase in the endothelial permeability and the destruction of cytoskeleton in vitro. Furthermore, silencing MRP4 gene significantly reduced MRP4 protein expression and restored the protein expression of Rac1, VE-cadherin, β-catenin and ZO-1 in rat PMVECs in response to LPS stimulation. These data suggest that inhibition of MRP4 significantly alleviates sepsis-induced acute lung injury in rats.