Fuzheng Huayu recipe inhibits bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis in rats by inhibiting M2 polarization of macrophages via the oxidative phosphorylation pathway

Fuzheng Huayu recipe (FZHYR) is a Chinese patent medicine for the treatment of fibrosis. The effects of FZHYR on pulmonary fibrosis and macrophage polarization were investigated in vitro. FZHYR inhibited pulmonary inflammation and fibrosis and M2 polarization of macrophages in bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis (BPF) of rat model. Differentially expressed genes were screened by high-throughput mRNA sequencing and GSEA showed that oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) was correlated with BPF. FZHYR inhibited expressions of Ndufa2 and Ndufa6 in lung tissues of BPF rats. These findings suggest that OXPHOS pathway serves as a possible target for pulmonary fibrosis therapy by FZHYR.

扶正化瘀方（Fuzheng Huayu recipe, FZHYR）是一款用于治疗纤维化疾病的中国中成药。本研究通过体外实验探究了扶正化瘀方对肺纤维化与巨噬细胞极化的调控效应。在博莱霉素诱导的大鼠肺纤维化（bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis, BPF）模型中，扶正化瘀方可抑制肺部炎症反应与纤维化进程，同时阻断巨噬细胞的M2极化。通过高通量mRNA测序筛选得到差异表达基因，基因集富集分析（Gene Set Enrichment Analysis, GSEA）结果显示，氧化磷酸化（oxidative phosphorylation, OXPHOS）通路与BPF密切相关。扶正化瘀方可抑制BPF模型大鼠肺组织中Ndufa2与Ndufa6的基因表达。上述研究结果表明，氧化磷酸化通路可作为扶正化瘀方治疗肺纤维化的潜在作用靶点。