Influence of extract of Ginkgo biloba leaves tablets on the aquaporin-1 expression in isolated lung ischemia reperfusion.

Background The extract of Ginkgo biloba leaves tablets, ginaton, is widely used in treating ischemic cerebrovascular disease in the clinic. This study aimed to investigate the expression of aquaporin-1 (AQP-1) in rat lung with ischemia/reperfusion injury after pretreatment with ginaton, and whether the pretreatment with ginaton reduces the acute lung injury caused by ischemia/reperfusion injury. Methods Adult Wistar rats were divided into two groups. Some rats were used as donors (n=20), the others as recipients (n=20). Left lungs of donor rats were used for the isolated lung reperfusion model, which perfused only with low potassium dextran (LPD) solution as group A (n=10); the others were pretreated with ginaton before reperfusion as group C (n=10). Right lung of donor rat without any treatment was used as a control group (group B and group D, n=10 for each group). After the model was established, the expression of AQP-1 in the lung tissues was examined by immunohistochemistry, Western blotting, and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. Results Immunohistochemical examination revealed that AQP-1 was expressed in endothelia. Immunoblotting demonstrated that the relative gray values of AQP-1 protein in groups A and C were 0.65 +/- 0.06, 0.88 +/- 0.11, respectively. The relative gray values of the mRNA expression in groups A and C were 0.30 +/- 0.08, 0.49 +/- 0.11, respectively. The expression of AQP-1 protein and mRNA in group C was significantly higher than in group A (P <0. 05). Conclusion The pretreatment with ginaton can reduce the acute lung injury caused by ischemia/reperfusion.